The Prototype and the Flower Knight
by ObscureGuy
Summary: A prototype and Hana No Kishi Dakini Crossover, Rosa Evergreen a Blacklight being arrives in a nameless land. Soon after arriving she meets a young dog named Eiden and a mute fox girl named Dakini, the trio will embark on an adventure to extinguish the Sky Golem threat. Should be easy when you grow stronger by eating people right?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Encounter

**Just a quick disclaimer, Hana no Kishi Dakini belongs to Sho Shibamoto and Prototype belongs to Activision/Radical entertainment. All rights reserved to both parties. This is my first attempt at fanfiction please leave constructive criticism. If you want to explore more of Sho's work, I highly recommend it, ****you can find his twitter or ****Deviant Art**** by searching Hi6sho.**

Our story begins in a land destitute of hope, a land where its people are brutalized by ancient airborne machines of war. These threatening machines are known as the Sky Golems, occasionally they fly from settlement to settlement unleashing a hail of straight thunders. These straight thunders are feared by the inhabitants of this world as they cause great destruction and poison the surrounding environment. For thousands of years the Sky Golems have laid these lands low, neither technology nor Mother nature could hope to stop these merciless killing machines as they blasted settlement after settlement. Not long after the people of this world gave up, unable to handle the terror that the Sky Golems could bring upon them. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of this world the next few days would bring yet another tragedy, the port town of Enoth was about to be attacked by the Sky Golems. However, something was about to change, something that could disrupt this brutal cycle of fear and tragedy and a certain artist would be right in the middle of it.

* * *

Various anthropomorphic animals strolled along the streets of Enoth minding their own business as the spring sun shined down on them. Among these people a young dog shuffled aimlessly as if searching for something, a sketchbook, pencil, and eraser in hand. The young dog's name is Eiden, a struggling artist fresh out of college and a young person suffering from both PTSD and depression. His mental illnesses originate from a nasty encounter with the Sky Golems, an encounter that destroyed the city of Bribooks and left Eiden traumatized. Currently he is desperately trying to rekindle his passion for art by drawing literally anything that can bring him inspiration.

"It's always the same…" Eiden thought. He had been moving from place to place within Enoth trying fruitlessly to gain inspiration.

"Whenever I hold my pen, I become scared of the paper. And when I grab my pencil, I don't see anything…"

"When I try to sketch the landscape in my mind, I quickly lose sight of what I'm trying to draw" Eiden thought dismally. This had been going on for the better part of the day, Eiden would search for something to draw inspiration from, hesitate with his sketchbook and stop, only to repeat the cycle. Eiden thought of this as his rehabilitation however it was having little effect, the terror of that fateful day etched deep into his memory. Eiden put down his pencil as he once again hesitated, a momentary silence being birthed from his inaction.

"Get a hold of yourself! It's been one whole year" Eiden was once again on the move.

"I need to draw something. I won't use my eraser! If I keep walking, I'll come across something I like and I'll draw it in my sketch book!" Eiden thought frantically. He began to stumble in various directions, eventually he began to walk towards the part of Enoth with the least amount of people. The old town area of Enoth didn't have much to look at however it was home to an old abandoned church.

"Don't be hasty. If I feel sick of drawing a motif, I'll move onto something else! I need this. This is my rehabilitation…!" In his uneasy and frantic thought process Eiden hadn't noticed that he was walking straight into the old town area of Enoth. Slowly but surely his mind began to turn towards his location.

"Hmmm? What's this place? I think I'm lost…" Eiden said idly. Eiden finally noticed that he had wandered into a part of Enoth that he was unfamiliar with.

Taking several more steps in the old town area Eiden took out his map. "Is the Diner nearby…? I'm hungry…" Eiden mused.

Continuing his stroll, he began to lose himself in his thoughts once again. "I don't see anyone here. I ended up on this site because I didn't look where I was going."

"Maybe I'll be lost here forever and fail to find any inspiration for my art" Eiden said to himself, another depressing statement.

"No, no…"

"No, no, no. That's not funny. Not funny at all. Am I going to stay like this forever?" Eiden thought to himself. The possibility that he might never recover from his PTSD and depression gave him a terrible soul wrenching sensation in his chest.

"O-of course not! I worked very hard today! I drew so many—wait, what?" Eiden glanced down at his sketch book only to see that he had filled a mere two pages with nothing but random objects and motifs.

"I only drew two pages of art…? But I worked so hard…"

"B-but wait! My art is still important to me! Eiden desperately reasoned with himself, he was willing to say anything to help keep his sanity intact.

"Even though they're meaningless sketches! I ran away from my hometown because I was sacred of losing my passion for art."

"I drew art for the first time in a year…!"

"But they're meaningless sketches" Eiden's panic-stricken train of thought continued forward.

"I'm spiraling out of control, I'm only trying to draw because I don't know how to live any other way. Someone help me!" At that point Eiden's despair had him on the verge of tears, he didn't know how to overcome his mental illnesses. Unaware of his movements he rushed forward without looking where he was headed. Some distance in front of him stood a lone figure, it wasn't until a short moment later that he noticed the aforementioned figure. Looking from the doorway where he was standing, he laid eyes upon a small fox girl wearing a two-piece swimsuit. The young fox girl stood in her spot completely motionless and gazing endlessly at the sky, for what reason? No one could really tell for sure.

"What? Who's this girl? A swimsuit in Spring? She looks like a fox kin. I've heard that fox kin in the Tepantar desert have big ears and small bodies." Eiden thought as he continued to observe the little fox girl.

"Hey, are you from around here? Sorry but I'm lost. I want to know where I could find someplace with a diner…" Curious as to why the little fox girl was gazing at the sky Eiden turned his head towards the sky to see if he could spot anything interesting or out of place. Sadly, the sky was just as plain as ever, nothing to speak of as far as the eye could see. Turning his gaze to the side Eiden began to examine the fox girl again.

"Huh, she's wearing earrings and a necklace that's sold from a local shop. I know there are flowers around in these parts, but I've never heard of them being sold as an accessory. Maybe she isn't from this town?" Eiden mused. His thoughts continued to surround the fox girl as he moved onto examining parts of her body.

"Her feet look like little paws. I've never seen anything like them before. There's something hanging around her waist…wait, what? Her Body…" Eiden began to notice that the fox girl's body sported several scars, one on both ears and one on each thigh as well as one on her stomach. A pair of scars could also be seen on her shoulders as each shoulder sported one scar.

All of a sudden the little fox girl turned her gaze towards Eiden, she had finally taken notice of him. "Oh, whoops! Sorry for staring at you! I was just interested in your clothing-urk. I meant your bod-ack!"

"F-forget it, I'm sorry! I just wanted to know where I should go…" Eiden quickly apologized however the little fox girl showed no signs of anger, she lowered herself until she was facing his sketch book. Curiosity piqued within her eyes and she pointed at the sketch book as if wanting to see what was within.

"Hm? You want to look?" With little words said Eiden handed his sketch book to the fox girl, she took it in her hands and flipped to a page with a sunflower like motif. Interested in the motif she tapped on the picture as if wanting an explanation from Eiden.

"Oh? That thing?" The fox girl continued to point at the sunflower like motif.

"Well… it's that thing, over there!" Eiden said, he pointed his finger towards the image of a sunflower pattern situated on the front of an old abandoned church.

"It's part of a building. I really liked the pattern. It looks like a sunflower, right?" Eiden said, one of the fox girl's ears raised up as if to convey the message that she didn't know what a sunflower was.

"You don't know what a sunflower is? Hold on a sec" With that statement Eiden reached into his suitcase, filled with art supplies and tools, he dipped his paint brush in yellow then began to paint the petals of a sunflower. After finishing the petals, he wiped his brush and dipped it in brown, after Eiden had finished the painting the fox girl looked on with an expression of wonder.

The fox girl reached a hand forward and dipped it in the still fresh paint of the sunflower painting, slowly she formed her own painting. A second later and her painting was done, it was a simple nearly featureless flower that sat next to Eiden's own sunflower. Raising the sketch book up she compared the two paintings to the sunflower pattern on the front of the old church. Slowly but surely a radiant smile blossomed on the fox girl's young face, the smile was soon followed by mirthful laughter. Seeing this display of happiness, Eiden found that a smile of his own had crept onto his face. This was the first time in as long as he could remember that he had felt any measure of happiness.

However, it was short-lived as the fox girl suddenly ceased her enjoyment of the paintings in the sketch book and stood up. She turned away from Eiden and once again focused her gaze upon the sky, seemingly waiting for something or someone.

"Huh?" Eiden was confused as to why the fox girl appeared so adamant when it came to gazing at the sky. Turning his gaze away from the fox girl he realized something about his location upon looking at his map. "Oh! I see now! This is the site of an old church! Which means I'm supposed to go over here…"

"Sorry, and thank you! I know where to go now! The day's about to end soon, so I suggest you—" He turned his head to talk to the fox girl but stopped as he realized that she was still gazing at the sky, almost as if ignoring all else.

"See you…" Eiden bid farewell, at least he now knew the location of the town's diner. Walking back the way he came Eiden made to leave the site of the old church, the lonely fox girl still standing stock still and gazing at the sky.

* * *

The alleyways of Enoth remained deserted save for several laundry lines that connected the neighboring houses. Evening had fallen on the port town of Enoth and many of its inhabitants made their way back home at a steady pace. In one of the many alleyways a small black writhing mass of tentacles wormed it way out of a crack in the wall. After leaving the safety of the crack the black mass of tentacles began to rapidly expand in size until it formed the shape of a fox with multiple tails. The resulting creature was a seven tailed kitsune, the kitsune stood tall and observed her surroundings. Noting that she had ended up in an alley somewhere in some town, the kitsune walked until she came out the other end of the alley. Upon exiting the alley any nearby townsfolk stared at her in wonder, children pointing at her in curiosity only to be told it was rude to point by their parents. The kitsune ignored all the attention and began walking down the street, passing by a certain young dog staring through a local diner's window.

"This town is nice enough however there's nothing of note for me to consume, nothing that could bolster my overall strength" The kitsune thought to herself. She continued to walk down the streets of Enoth and only barely noticing all the attention she was getting.

"Maybe I could travel North and along the way I'll discover something that I'd want to consume" The seven tailed kitsune thought to herself. By now she had walked all the way to the edge of town right onto the docks, with her powerful augmented eyesight the kitsune spotted something approaching in the horizon, something dreadful. "What's that?"

In the distance a trio of flying machines was approaching Enoth, at a steady pace they would soon reach Enoth within seconds. The machines had a large round white head with two gaping black holes for eyes, a square protrusion sat where the mouth might've been. They also had a pair of arms crossed over their chest with hands that only bore 3 fingers, a pair of legs that looked very much the same as the arms except straight. A large halo hovered above each airborne machine and their entire bodies crackled with electricity. The kitsune stood there staring and observing these strange creatures until she heard the cries of the townsfolk. "It's the Sky Golems! Everyone run!"

As soon as the townsfolk spotted their potential demise arriving, they panicked and ran in the opposite direction. The kitsune on the other hand dove into a nearby alley and jumped up onto the roof of a nearby house. "It appears these creatures are enemies of these people, I should do something"

With that said the kitsune prepared for battle, she began morphing her left arm into a weapon which would help her achieve victory. In exactly a second her left hand had become a long black and red razor-sharp blade, mere seconds after this transformation one of the Sky Golems began charging a straight thunder. Another second and the Golem fired its straight thunder however before the kitsune could act a black blur jumped high into the air and parried the straight thunder, the straight thunder crashed into a mountain in the distance. The kitsune was perplexed, with her powerful eyesight she had witnessed a young fox girl jump into the sky and use what appeared to be a wooden sword to parry the Golem's straight thunder. For a moment the kitsune looked towards the townsfolk only to see that they too were just as puzzled. Shaking her head free of confusion the kitsune noticed that this time all three Golems were firing straight thunders. Somehow the fox girl stayed in the air and launched herself forward, with several swift motions of her blade she parried all three straight thunders. The assault continued as one of the Golems fired another straight thunder at the fox girl.

With some effort the fox girl yet again parried the straight thunder however this time the parried straight thunder scored a direct headshot on the Golem that had fired it. The townsfolk below were still running and completely oblivious to the spectacle that was unfolding behind them. The Golem that had taken the headshot had an inky black liquid spurting from its head, as it listed to the right it fired one last straight thunder in retaliation. Realizing that the fox girl would take a direct hit the kitsune jumped up with blinding speed, the rooftop below her now sporting a hole with cracks spiderwebbing around it. Before anyone had noticed, the straight thunder had been parried and was now flying towards the Golem that had taken the headshot. The Golem's head having taken two headshots now exploded in a firework display of flaming debris. The kitsune landed on another rooftop while the fox girl stayed levitating in the air. Without a moment's hesitation the kitsune jumped with unparalleled speed in an arc and before the remaining two Golems could react both their heads had been bisected.

Two explosions sounded off as the remaining Golems were defeated, seeing that her work was done the kitsune turned her attention to the still levitating fox girl. She wanted to meet this strange entity and decided to call her over. "Hey you! Yes you, the one levitating in mid air" The Kitsune shouted, hopefully no one else heard her.

The levitating fox girl noticed the kitsune and leapt down in front of the house that the kitsune was standing beside. "May I ask your name? Mine's Rosa Evergreen" Rosa smiled as she held out her hand for the fox girl.

Being met with an introduction the Fox girl opened her mouth to say something however nothing but empty air came out, to Rosa it seemed that the fox girl was unable to speak.

"….." The fox girl made several more attempts at speech before stopping and facing Rosa. "It's ok if you can't speak, you can answer me through gestures" Rosa suggested.

At this suggestion the fox girl tried once again to speak, Rosa waited for an answer. "…D"

"Da…" This time a single syllable came out.

"Da…. Dakini" Dakini had finally managed to speak her own name.

"Nice to meet you Dakini!" Rosa said with a smile, she took Dakini's hand and shook it gently. Before the pair could do anything else, they heard the rough sound of footsteps headed in their direction. A moment later a young dog appeared before them gasping for breath, Eiden took a moment to catch his breath before looking at the two saviors of Enoth.

"…You're the ones…who destroyed…those Golems right?" Eiden queried, he just had to meet the ones that could annihilate his worst fears, more than anything he wanted to meet them.

"Yes, that would be us. Right Dakini?" Rosa said, Dakini merely smiled and used her pointer finger to make a flower gesture. Upon seeing Dakini Eiden's face lit up in surprise, this was the young fox girl he had met earlier in the afternoon.

"Hey, you're that girl I met at the old town area! Your name's Dakini right?" Eiden said, Dakini nodded. Rosa didn't mind being ignored for the moment, her mind turned to the voices that she could here in the distance.

"Unbelievable did something just destroy those Golems!?"

"I think it come from the town's docks, lets go take a look"

"Could we finally have hope?"

Rosa didn't like the sound of that, she wasn't one to soak in the praise of saving people from their demise nor did she like staying after a battle at the scene of the crime. "Hey, I hate to interrupt you two but there are people encroaching on our location" Rosa said.

Dakini and Eiden stopped their conversation before giving Rosa a confused look. "Why? Shouldn't we meet the people that we saved and cooperate with them? Eiden asked.

"No, my identity as this town's savior must not be revealed to the public and I need young Dakini to come with me" Rosa said, Dakini nodded her head at the latter statement since she wouldn't mind having some help in annihilating the Golems.

"Why?" Eiden asked once again.

"I don't have time to explain! You'll get an explanation later, we just have to leave now!" Rosa said forcefully. Eiden having been satisfied that he'd get an explanation later finally conceded in following Rosa and Dakini, he nodded his head as if to tell that he was coming along. "Good, now let's move. The townsfolk will be hot on our heels." Rosa stated.

The trio ran as fast as they could under the cover of night, several sentries at Enoth's north gate yelled for them to stop but they did not relent. Rosa formed several throwing knives laced with a potent fast working tranquilizer and threw them at the sentries, the chemical infused knives would also wipe their short-term memory. The running continued for roughly half an hour before Rosa, Eiden, and Dakini arrived in a thick and luscious jungle. Once inside the jungle their pace slowed down to a walk, none within the group appeared particularly tired. Another half hour of walking passed and the group of three came to a clearing in the jungle. "Okay, here looks like a good spot to set up camp" Rosa stated.

"What do you mean set up camp, none of us have any tents" Eiden said with a perplexed expression on his face, he was unwilling to sleep on the ground or in a tree.

"Not a problem, just leave it to me" Rosa chirped with a smile. Eiden and Dakini stood around as Rosa went about gathering sticks and stones. Once enough stone and sticks had been gathered, she used the stones to form a circle. After that was done Rosa formed a blade out of her left arm and proceeded to chop down a tree.

"W-what's that?!" Eiden stammered, he was bewildered that this vixen could transform her entire left arm into a weapon, Dakini was also curious however she made a mental note to ask Rosa later as she was busy.

"Not now I'm busy, you'll get an explanation later remember?" Rosa said.

Hearing this Eiden stopped any other words that he wanted to say however his curiosity only grew, he could hardly wait for all his questions to be answered. Setting the newly chopped tree down, Rosa sliced the tree into several logs and placed them on top of the sticks within her soon to be campfire. Finishing with the construction of her campfire Rosa took two sticks and rubbed them together faster than any creature should be capable of and mere seconds after that a fire was started. Both Eiden and Dakini looked on with rapt attention, interested in how someone could work so efficiently. Next came the tents, an inky black substance began leaking from the tips of Rosa's fingers and once it reached the ground it began to form two tents. This act magnified both Eiden and Dakini's curiosity to a massive degree, what creature could possibly be able to do this? Having finished building the campsite Rosa patted the spot next her and beckoned her two observers to sit next to her. Quietly, both Eiden and Dakini took a seat next to Rosa, one on each side.

"So…what exactly are you?" Eiden queried, his curiosity and desire for answers had reached it's peak.

"I know this information will be hard to digest but I'm a living virus capable of taking the memories, genetics, and physical form of whatever creature that I consume" Rosa stated.

At this statement both Dakini and Eiden tilted their head to the side in confusion, especially Dakini. "How could any disease do that?" Eiden asked.

"I'm not from this land, I come from a continent far beyond the western seas. No individual or group in this land is capable of creating what I am" Rosa answered. That being said Eiden wondered what lay beyond the western sea of Arnoch, but an even more pressing question arose.

"What is this virus called" Eiden asked.

"The name of the virus is Blacklight" Rosa said. Before anyone could say another word, Rosa felt a light tug on the sleeve of her white sun dress. Rosa looked to her left only to see Dakini with the most inquisitive look in her eyes, you just couldn't say no to those eyes.

"What is it Dakini?" Rosa said.

Dakini pointed to Rosa and tilted her head to the side, Rosa had a confused expression however several moments later she figured out what Dakini was trying to ask. "Oh! You want to know what a virus is" Rosa had an aha moment.

"A virus is a kind of tiny creature that you can't see with your eyes, these tiny creatures hurt people and can change them" Rosa explained.

Upon hearing the explanation Dakini clapped her hands as if to laud Rosa for her knowledge, Rosa was beginning to grow tired of answering question but she kept from voicing her complaints. "Alright! The next question will be the last one I answer" Rosa said.

"What was that black liquid that you used to create these tents?" Eiden said.

"That's my biomass, I can freely manipulate my own body on the cellular level" Rosa stated. After answering all the questions Rosa stood up and headed for her tent, a second later and she was followed by Dakini. "Goodnight" Rosa said.

"Night" Eiden said half-heartedly. Eiden watched Rosa's retreating form and noted that she was wearing a plain white sun dress, on her back he spotted seven individual tails. Eiden thought to himself about the intrigue of Rosa being a marebito but refrained from asking any further questions. He also observed a pair of white black tipped fox ears on her head and an ample bosom, Eiden began to blush furiously at the latter. Last but not least Eiden noticed that Rosa was tall, much taller than the average height of her species, she had wavy white hair, white fur, curvaceous hips, and a face free of blemishes with a pair of radiant blue eyes. His observations aside, Eiden headed inside his own tent and resigned himself to sleep. He could sleep well tonight knowing that finally there was something in the world that could combat the Sky Golem menace, not long after he lay down his stomach growled. "Damn I haven't even eaten anything today"

Eiden lamented his lack of money for he wished to use his life savings for art supplies and not expensive gourmet food which Enoth had plenty of. He resolved to go fishing or bug hunting tomorrow, after all tomorrow was another day and that day was looking much brighter now that he had hope. Twenty minutes passed by and the entire group had slowly drifted off to the land of dreams, who knew what would await them on the journey ahead of them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Travel

**Just a quick disclaimer, Hana no Kishi Dakini belongs to Sho Shibamoto and Prototype belongs to Activision/Radical entertainment. All rights reserved to both parties. If you want to explore more of Sho's work, I highly recommend it, you can find his twitter or DeviantArt by searching Hi6sho.**

Dreams are like an extended train of thought, like a movie within someone's mind that either goes on for the entire night or ends abruptly. To the most unfortunate degree one certain vixen was having a dream and it was a nightmare of the worst degree. Within this dream a crimson sky presented itself and the screams of city folk could be heard swelling into a hellish cacophony. Everywhere you looked you could see red and black biomass painting the walls of buildings and random vehicles. Nearby one of these vehicles lay a sign that read "Welcome to Pittsburgh"

The streets of Pittsburgh were in complete and utter pandemonium, large gorilla-like beasts were laying waste to everything in sight. Corpses littered almost every inch of the streets, Entrails and blood haphazardly splattered everywhere. You could find all sorts of organs laying about as nothing was left out, some of the corpses were ripped open like a bag of treats. Everything glistened with how many shades of red that were painting the streets, it was very closely akin to hell on Earth. These gorilla-like beasts had smooth featureless skin and faces however they sported a set of razor-sharp teeth much like that of a shark. They possessed long serrated claws on each arm and grossly muscled bodies that would make even a circus strongman blush. Last but not least, a pair of black beady soulless eyes sat atop their heads as they tore apart anything that stood in their way.

The United State's military was fighting a losing battle, many of them had already been decimated by the gorilla-like creatures. The U.S soldiers had taken to calling these creatures hunter brawlers, several minutes later the last of the U.S soldiers were crushed by the hunter brawlers. At this moment all hope seemed lost, the citizens that dared look back as they ran away saw their demise heading towards them at breakneck speeds.

Suddenly a white blur surged forward and past the fleeing crowd, a young white-haired woman sped towards the hoard of hunter brawlers with ridiculous speed. Rosa wore a frantic and terrified expression on her face as she sped up to meet the oncoming hoard. Just as she was about to collide with the aforementioned hoard Rosa transformed her hands into a pair of razor-sharp claws. The hunter brawlers immediately surrounded their soon to be victim however they were in for a nasty surprise. Rosa lunged forward at terrifying speeds, with enough speed that any inferior being would find the skin on their face forcibly removed. One by one the hunter brawlers were mutilated by Rosa, some had tried to slip past the woman however she merely transformed her left arm into a hooked whip and pulled them back into the fray.

Rosa fought with a feral yet terrified expression on her face, to her combat was something to be avoided because she hated the tension and anxiety that it brought her. She fought the mutant infected life forms for what felt like an eternity before the last of the beasts fell. Rosa stood relatively still as her chest heaved inward due to adrenaline, she was absolutely covered in blood and guts. Suddenly out of nowhere footsteps could be heard and before Rosa could react a middle-aged woman with the same white hair emerged from an alleyway. "R-Rosa d-d-dear is that you?"

Rosa spun around to meet the older woman and tensed her body as she recognized her own mother. "What are you doing here mother?" Rosa asked, how could mother still be alive?

"Never mind that dear, come we can still make it out of this alive" Rosa's mother proposed. As the older woman said that a weak smile formed on Rosa's face and she truly believed that the nightmare was over, oh how very foolish she was. The ground rumbled and before anyone could make any proper movement a multitude of black and red spikes rose up from the ground. The spikes impaled Rosa's mother from her bottom, her body sliding off the large spikes piece by piece as the older woman literally fell apart. Words could not express the anguish that Rosa felt at that exact moment, her heart felt as if it were being slowly sawn in two by tiny creatures. She let out an incredibly loud bloodcurdling scream before everything suddenly cut to black, a large hulking beast could be seen in the corner before everything disappeared. Rosa woke with a gasp, a cold sweat running down her entire body, she had large tears welling up in her eyes. Quietly she got up out of her sleeping bag and headed outside, she had to have some alone time after that terrible nightmare.

In the next mind over Dakini was also having a dream however this dream was more tense rather than a violent nightmare. Dakini sat in a mostly dark room in front of a strange creature, her eyes wide as dinner plates as she stared at her creator. A pitch-black hand reached out to touch her as the strange being spoke first. "My, what a lovely child" it said.

"My curse of ten millennia has finally brought you into this room" it continued, Dakini could only stare at her supposed creator with wide eyes and do nothing else.

The pitch-black hand of the creator reached down and patted Dakini on the head, giving her a gentle rub on the head. "You are my most beautiful and lovely creation. You have what it takes to fulfill my wish" it said.

"Now take your sword" the creator said. Another black hand approached however this time it held a hiltless sword wrapped in cloth in it's grasp. Like an infant reaching for their milk bottle Dakini made to grab for the wrapped sword and took it earnestly in her tiny hands. Just as she grabbed the sword the cloth on the sword's blade came undone and revealed a dark wooden blade.

"Your mission is to kill every last dreaded Golem in this world" a third hand reached down and joined the first hand in gently rubbing her head.

"Tragedy will come to the world. Think only of killing them. You are capable of eradicating them." The creator droned on, the second hand reached forward and brought a miniature Golem head into the middle of Dakini's line of sight. Somehow, she understood completely what her purpose in life was, much like a baby bird being imprinted on.

"Dakini, I created you for that very reason" the creator spoke. Finally, through Dakini's eyes the creator appeared in full view, it was a large creature with four long arms. The entirety of the creator's upper body was drenched in blood and what seemed like tubes connected to a life support machine were connected to it's back. The creator had dreadlocks, stripes on its forearms, and what appeared to be a skirt for its lower body. For several more moments Dakini stared at her creator and silently acknowledged her mission and before she knew it the dream had ended. Opening her eyes suddenly Dakini remained still for several moments before rolling over to her right. The sleeping bag next to her, the one that was supposed to contain Rosa, was empty. Without a moment to lose Dakini got out of her sleeping bag and headed to the next tent over in order to find Eiden, perhaps he knew where Rosa had gone.

* * *

Five minutes away from the camp she had made Rosa had found a small river just deep enough to have the water come up to her waist. Not wanting anyone to find her bathing Rosa immediately jumped in the river and in a wave of black biomass transformed until her white sundress was missing. Ever since Rosa had become infected with the Blacklight virus she rarely had the need to clean herself, her impervious outer shell of armor was also highly resistant to filth. Rosa's outer layer of cells consisted of the toughest armored cells her body had to offer, it would take nothing short of a thermobaric tank shell to even create a dent in her.

Moving with insane dexterity Rosa scrubbed every inch of her body with a sponge that she created using her own biomass. Two minutes passed and the ritual of cleaning her body had passed, another wave of black and her sundress had reappeared. The sponge had also gone back to its original liquid biomass state and rejoined her body. "Every Night is the same damn thing, a bloody nightmare" Rosa sighed.

The only saving grace from these fitful nights was how she hardly needed any sleep, at least being a Blacklight lifeform had its perks. Perhaps some therapy sessions by a professional were in order however Rosa had no idea if therapists even existed in this land, she had encountered none. Jumping out of the small river Rosa looked down at the paws that served as her feet and saw that she had made a trail of paw prints. In the next few seconds the bushes to her left shook and out came her two recently acquired friends. Once Eiden and Dakini found Rosa they waved and ran up to her, Dakini was especially overjoyed to see her for some reason.

"Hey! I'm glad we found you. Please don't vanish like that" Eiden chided, Dakini ran up and hugged Rosa.

"Sorry about that, I just had to find somewhere to bathe. I love to maintain my own hygiene" Rosa explained.

"It's alright, by the way I know this is awfully rude but I haven't properly introduced myself yet. My name is Eiden and I'm a traveling artist" Eiden said, Eiden felt a little bit of heat on his face due to the embarrassment of having not properly introduced himself.

"Well that's nice, I'll remember that Mr. Eiden. My name is Rosa Evergreen, a pleasure to meet you" Rosa said as she bowed like a performer. The three friends headed back to their campsite and with a snap of Rosa's fingers the tents retreated back into her body as biomass. Now that the tents were gone Rosa created a shovel using her biomass and dug a hole that was six feet deep, she kicked all the stones, sticks, and logs into the hole. Wasting no time, she used her shovel and hefted all the dirt into the hole which concealed the fact that there ever was a camp in this clearing. Satisfied that no trace of the camp was left the trio turned to each other to discuss their next course of action.

"I should think that those Golems that me and Dakini destroyed were not the only ones, correct?" Rosa stated.

"That's right Rosa, however we haven't the faintest clue where they'll strike next" said Eiden, at this statement Dakini tugged on Eiden's sleeve.

"Hm? Is something the matter Dakini?" said Eiden.

Upon saying this Dakini took two steps back from Eiden and Rosa before focusing on seemingly nothing, a moment later and something began to sprout from her forehead. At a steady pace a long black horn sprouted from her forehead, her eyes dilated as she continued to focus. Using her newly created horn Dakini faced north and stiffly pointed in that direction. One short moment later and her horn retracted back into her head, with her right hand she pushed the last of her horn back into her forehead.

"Well aren't you just full of surprises young one" said Rosa, hearing this Dakini merely smiled and drew another flower in the air with one of her fingers.

"I think something is going to happen in the direction of her horn" stated Eiden.

"I believe you're right and its most likely the location of our next battle against the Sky Golems" said Rosa.

"Alright then let's move out, the quicker the better" said Eiden.

That being said the trio made their way in the direction that Dakini had indicated, north would be their next destination. Thinking about their destination Eiden took out a map that he had procured much earlier at Enoth's library. Finding their current position, he noted that if they were to keep heading north, they would eventually reach the old city of Karakuma. "Hey, if we keep heading north, we will reach the city of Karakuma" said Eiden.

"Is that so? Good maybe there'll be something of note that I can consume" Rosa chirped happily.

"Consume? You mean eat food?" Eiden questioned.

Rosa shook her head in order to say negative. "No Eiden, when I say consume, I mean that I'll eat someone or an animal. When I consume someone, they die and become a part of me. Don't you remember my explanation last night?"

"W-w-wait does that mean you've killed people before? Eiden said shakily, despite hearing this Dakini wasn't afraid because she trusted Rosa. After all Rosa had assisted her in her first battle against the Golems and her trust didn't wane easily. That was most definitely a childish amount of trust but Dakini didn't acknowledge that nor care.

"Yes Eiden I've killed people before and no I haven't murdered anyone from this land. Not too long ago I developed the ability to create a physical form from consuming someone's DNA. Be it a piece of hair or maybe a tooth, I can create a physical form based off of that genetic data alone" Rosa explained.

After hearing that Eiden breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he and Dakini could feel safe, relief that Rosa wasn't a wanted criminal. For a moment Eiden wondered why it never occurred to him that Rosa killed living beings when she consumed them, he dismissed that train of thought and saved it for another time. The trio continued their trek up north until mere minutes later Eiden's stomach once again notified him of his starvation.

"It appears someone hasn't had something to eat" Rosa said in a sing song tone, Dakini was a bit surprised at Eiden's hunger but quickly began to think of something. Crouching close to the ground Dakini scooped up two balls of dirt and handed one to Eiden.

"Oh, thanks for the mud pie…I appreciate it" Eiden said sheepishly. Dakini held the ball of mud in her left hand and made a chomping motion with her mouth. Eiden was slightly amused until Dakini began to gather large clods of dirt to shove into her mouth, she chewed and swallowed it without hesitation.

"What?" Both Eiden and Rosa thought in confusion.

After eating all the loose dirt Dakini jumped up at a nearby butterfly and grabbed it, this poor creature would be her next meal. "What?! Wait, Dakini?! What are you eating? Eiden yelled, mortified that anyone would even consider devouring objects that were universally known as inedible.

Dakini grabbed another clod of dirt and shoved it into her mouth once again swallowing something that was supposed to be inedible. After doing so she scrunched up her face in disgust, just because you could eat dirt and insects doesn't mean it tastes good.

"Obviously she wouldn't find that to be delicious" Rosa thought.

"D-Dakini do you always eat this stuff when you're hungry?" Eiden asked, Dakini gave a simple nod of her head.

"Oh, but have you eaten cuisine before?" Eiden asked once again, this statement caused Dakini to tilt head in confusion as she had no idea what Eiden was talking about.

"But you had to have at least eaten fruits and vegetables before…!" Eiden said in a mildly exasperated manner, this only caused Dakini to tilt her head further in confusion. After seeing that Dakini was bereft of any knowledge that had to do with edible food Eiden was more frustrated than ever before.

"I want her to eat delicious food!" Eiden raged internally, as this exchange happened Rosa stood beside Dakini with an amused expression. She had definitely heard of a situation like this before as orphaned African children who didn't know how to properly feed themselves existed.

"Dakini! Let me take care of your food. I swear on my nose that I will find the right ingredients to give you a most satisfying meal!" Eiden said, his pointer finger pressed up against his nose. As Eiden said this Dakini smiled and clapped her hands, unfortunately she still had no idea what her traveling companion was saying. Before they could set out to gather wild ingredients Dakini stumbled upon something she hadn't seen at all. Tugging on Rosa's skirt she pointed at the stones forming a line in the ground, on top of the stones lay a continuous line of angle brackets.

"Oh that, those are signal lines. They indicate the boundary which is affected by GBR" Rosa explained, saying this only posed another question for Dakini as she tilted her head at the latter part of the explanation.

"Oh right, GBR stands for great beetle repellent. Great beetles are large insects, some can be domesticated for food while others are dangerous because they're omnivores." Rosa explained further. Dakini traced a finger along the surface of the signal line, she wondered if she would soon be able to see these so-called great beetles.

Now that the explanations were over the trio set about looking for anything that was edible, Eiden had spotted an underwater butterfly. He quickly caught the butterfly with a small net that he had packed in his suitcase, the butterfly was known as the Sardine Monarch. The Sardine Monarch is sour and would make good for reducing fatigue which Eiden needed. Next Eiden searched around their spot in the jungle until he found a collection of twigs with thin long leaves sticking out of the ground. Uprooting the plant, he obtained several wild potatoes, these wild potatoes were known as the Enoth Cassava, they're high on starch. Turning his head slightly to the right Eiden witnessed Dakini uproot a mature Cassava plant, the entire thing must've had at least a dozen potatoes hanging on it. Eiden was unable to hide his surprise, on the other hand Rosa simply stood still and occasionally followed the two. Rosa believed both Eiden and Dakini to be completely capable of obtaining their food however she thought helping might be the right thing to do.

Walking over to a tree she looked up before reaching into the tree's Canopy, grabbing whatever hung from the tree she obtained a tomato like fruit. Returning to the other two she presented the fruit to Eiden, upon seeing the fruit he merely smiled. "That's an Amasanchibanka, Rosa"

"Really now? What I want to know is if its edible" Rosa said, her tone lacking patience.

"Oh, its edible alright" Eiden said as he nodded.

Confirming that the fruit that she picked was indeed edible Rosa went about picking as many as she could from every nearby tree. Once she had gathered enough fruits, she walked over to Eiden and placed them all in his bag, the young artist barely noticed. A short moment later Eiden and Dakini had picked up a beetle with long horns, Dakini had obtained the beetle by climbing up a tree that resembled a palm tree. That beetle was known as the Marsan long-horned beetle, it tasted like fresh fish when fried and was a long time favorite of bug eaters everywhere. The group reformed as Eiden held all the ingredients in his hand, the live ingredients were kept in a cage that he kept in his hand bag. Rosa smiled at the wild bounty as she had her arms brimming with Amasanchibankas, the group made to prepare their meal but was interrupted by Dakini.

Dakini grabbed Eiden's sleeve and began tugging, she pointed at an opening in the thick jungle that they resided in. Through the opening all three group members could see a clearing much larger than the one they had built their camp in; the clearing was home to a large herd of Pill bugs. These were no ordinary Pill bugs, they were the great beetle equivalent and they were large. To put things into perspective they almost reached the size of a small truck, each Pill bug was resting within the clearing.

"What? Are those… Iron ball bugs?! But… why are there so many?!" Eiden said in amazement.

Dakini wondered if the Iron ball bugs could be eaten so she made a biting motion with her mouth to indicate her question to Eiden. "Can you eat it? Well maybe since it isn't poisonous" Eiden said.

The two stepped into the clearing to examine the Iron ball bugs however Rosa's interest had been piqued, this was her first time seeing a great beetle as she had arrived very recently. Ignoring her two other companions she transformed her arms into hulking stone like fists and jumped high into the air, a small crater was left where she once stood. A second later and one of the Iron ball bugs now sported a gaping hole in its head, the moment Rosa impacted the great beetle there was a deafening crash and rumble. The impact also caused red and black spikes to move out from the center of the impact in a circle. Dakini and Eiden watched in awe at the raw display of power, another several seconds and the dust cleared. The great beetle died instantly and was enveloped in a mass of writhing black tentacles, this biomass was quickly drawn into the familiar shape of a kitsune.

As Rosa had consumed the Iron ball bug, she gained a myriad of memories, genes, and of course the physical form of the Iron ball bug. Everything from the memory of its birth to the gene that made up its hardy armored shell. After the rush of memories cleared Rosa turned to face her two companions who were still in awe. "You two don't need to stand there staring at me, that and staring is rude" Rosa said.

This statement snapped the two out of their trance and Eiden approached Rosa, his eyes brimming with a mixture of fear and intrigue. "Is that what happens when you consume someone" Eiden said shakily.

"Indeed, and now I have what I want" Rosa said.

Remembering what Rosa had explained to him he headed back over to Dakini, for her part Dakini was staring at the jungle. Her attention had been hooked by something within the tree line of the jungle, continuing her stare she perked her ears up as if sensing danger. In the direction that Dakini was looking at something moved, you couldn't see it unless you looked closely. Before Eiden could react, a great beetle launched itself into the air with its mandibles poised to strike him. Luckily Dakini reacted in a timely manner and rushed forward to push Eiden out of the way, Eiden narrowly avoided his own mutilation. Both Eiden and Dakini were completely shocked at the arrival of a new great beetle, it stood on all fours and had a shiny silver carapace. It's eyes and tail were somewhat shrimp like however the shell on its back was just like any ordinary beetle that you could find wandering around outside. Spikes jutted out near the top of its legs and its long mandibles had a segmented carapace covering it.

"It's a great beetle…a great Silver Agito!" Eiden exclaimed in his head, his mouth agape at having seen such a rare creature since they were almost never sighted in the wild.

A second passed by with no one making a single move before the Silver Agito suddenly rushed forward with it's mandibles swinging around wildly. Eiden scooped Dakini up in his arms and began to run like there was no tomorrow, Rosa was the only one that stood behind. Shifting her arm into a blade Rosa brought her blade against the Silver Agito, intending to only stop it's advance. Her blade had purposely been made dull in order to keep the great beetle alive, she resisted the urge to consume.

"Damn it!" Eiden shouted, he couldn't remember a time where he had previously been chased by a great beetle.

"Thank you, Dakini! I'd be dead if it weren't for you!" Eiden thanked Dakini profusely. In response to this gratitude Dakini gave a wide smile and did her flower hand gesture as usual. The two continued to run while Rosa pushed back against the Silver Agito, the battle of strength appeared to have no end.

"This is just abnormal. Great Silver Agitos should be repulsed by even the slightest scent of GBR. An actual encounter should be impossible" Eiden thought as he ran.

"I have a bottle of repellent in my pocket. Should I keep running and wait for a chance to spray it?! Would it even work on an excited Great Agito?!" Eiden thought, he was becoming more frantic by the second. Snapping him out of his train of thought Dakini poked Eiden's chin before looking him in the eyes and patting her chest. Eiden had no time to respond as Dakini jumped out of his arms and rushed towards Rosa who was still keeping the Silver Agito at bay. Rosa turned her head around to spot Dakini charging at full speed towards her and the Agito before she pushed her opponent back several meters using strength alone. As she neared the Agito Dakini slid under the great beetle with her sword clutched in her hands, she could see a second set of mandibles under its long mandibles.

Stopping behind the Agito Dakini grabbed her sword's handle and prepared to strike, her eyes dilating as she focused. Thousands of years ago people lived as nomads which was the case before great beetle repellent had been invented. Some time down the road people began to study the behavior of great beetles and that led to the creation of knights. Soldiers who were sworn to protect the people, due to their exploits these knights gained certain titles. The knight of the insect armor who wore the shells of great beetles into battle and the knight of toppling who could perceive any movement. Last but not least the knight of insect reeling, who was capable of taming great beetles and using them in battle.

As the Great Agito and Dakini were about to collide something new happened, Dakini's blade began to crystallize starting from the tip of the blade. The crystallization reached up to half the blade before Dakini swung her sword horizontally which caused the Agito to rear up and fall onto its back. Dakini had performed her horizontal swing while using her left hand to perform a hand stand, the second the Agito fell on its back she jumped high into the air. A short moment of Dakini jumping in an arc and she landed on the Agito's underside, a decisive stab to the head was delivered to the great beetle. With that attack hitting its mark the battle was over and the Agito had been slain.

Eiden could only stare at Dakini in awe, never in his life had he ever seen someone successfully take down a great beetle even though there existed legends of people doing so. "I shall title this scene…Dakini the knight of flowers" Eiden thought.

Walking towards the group Rosa saw that Dakini had gained experience, she was glad the young fox was growing stronger. "Bravo Dakini! That was a perfect battle, you really did well!" Rosa praised.

Hearing this Dakini ran over to Rosa with a big smile and jumped into her arms, the two hugged each other and smiled. Seeing this caused Eiden to smile as well because each moment like this helped warm his heart, his PTSD and depression shrinking as he became more positive. The moment was cut short however as Eiden's stomach made itself known once again.

"Uggghh, damn I need food now!" Eiden said as he clutched at his aching stomach.

Wordlessly Rosa walked over to the downed Agito and once again shifted her arm into a long blade, this time she used her right arm. She began to drag the Agito into the tree line opposite to where the three of them came from. "Come, follow me and you will be satiated" Rosa said, her tone was somewhat commanding.

The two other group members followed their strongest combatant into the jungle as the great Agito was being dragged behind Rosa. Once the trio arrived in a less dense area within the jungle Rosa set about preparing the Agito as a meal. First, she pulled apart its legs and set each individual leg aside for later, next she removed the wings cutting them with her blade. The shell concealing the wings were wrenched off the body as Rosa applied her biomass to the gap right down the middle, this gap allowed the shell to part and open. The biomass in the gap of the shell quickly hardened as it acted as a sort of glue, to Rosa this would serve a purpose later on. Setting the shell aside Rosa used her abnormal strength to pull the Agito's head straight off its body, each part would be used for later. Eiden and Dakini for the umpteenth time could do nothing but stare as Rosa did her work, they had come to rely on Rosa when it came to manual work.

Using her biomass again Rosa formed a large bowl exactly five meters in diameter, next she gathered logs by cutting down a tree. Rocks and sticks were gathered as well to create a new campfire so that the Agito could be cooked. Rosa began the tedious task of scraping out each and every iota of meat she could find within the Great Agito's body. Soon the bowl had been filled with a pile of meat that looked strange but appetizing if it were to be cooked. "Please make sure no one eats this while I look for water Eiden" Rosa said.

"Sure, you have my word" Eiden said.

Walking away from their soon to be camp Rosa used her augmented sense of smell and soon tracked down a tiny freshwater pond. There was just a little over the required amount of water needed to create a boiling bowl of water. Using her biomass once again Rosa created a large bucket and small bucket, she used the small bucket and transferred water into the large one until it was full. Commanding the biomass of the small bucket to return to her she carried the large one back to camp. Eiden and Dakini were slightly surprised to see a large bucket full of water being carried by Rosa. Now that Rosa had returned, she poured all the water into her bowl and commanded the biomass of the large bucket to return to her. She shifted both arms into blades and swiped them against each other which produced sparks until the campfire underneath the bowl lit on fire.

Now the group simply had to wait for their meal to be ready, all three companions sat next to each other and waited. While waiting Dakini used a finger and drew the large bucket from earlier in the dirt, she turned her head to Rosa and pointed at the simple drawing of the bucket. "Oh, that? It's a bucket and those things are used to carry other things" Rosa explained.

Dakini smiled and clapped her hands as she was happy that Rosa was here to answer her every question, Rosa didn't mind at all since a child needed education. Next Dakini pointed to the bowl containing their meal and looked towards Rosa again. "That is a bowl, it can also be used to carry things" Rosa said

Once again Dakini clapped her hands, it seemed that Dakini had the curiosity of a child and perhaps she was nothing but a child. She rarely talked but was not incapable of speech and her curiosity could only be attributed to that of a child. Rosa wanted to learn more about Dakini and thought about consuming her but quickly banished such an abhorrent thought, no child deserved that. Twenty five minutes later and the boiling Agito was ready to be eaten, the smell was very alluring.

Rosa reached into the bowl and took a piece of meat for each group member, the meat looked smooth. No one within the group could wait as they dug into their meal, the sound of meat being chewed was heard throughout the camp. "Th-this is delicious…the flavor, the smell, everything about this is good!" Eiden exclaimed.

"It certainly is and I'm glad we managed to kill it" Rosa remarked.

"Wow does anyone know how good Great Silver Agitos taste?! Eiden exclaimed once again.

"I highly doubt it since this creature was camouflaged and I know nobody noticed but I saw it along with Dakini. If it hides among the foliage than the chance of people finding it are slim, not that anyone would willingly look for an apex predator" Rosa said.

Listening to Rosa, Eiden had to admit that what she said made sense. A really shiny great beetle would have serious trouble hunting its prey if said prey could spot your shiny bum from a mile away. Watching Dakini eat Eiden decided he wanted to treat Dakini to the fruits that Rosa had found earlier, reaching into his bag he took one. "So, Dakini, you seem almost done with your meal…are you up for desert?" Eiden said.

Dakini for her part had a finger on her chin as she wondered what Eiden was talking about, could he present her with something she didn't know about. Showing the Amasanchibanka to Dakini she reacted by sniffing the fruit like a cautious animal. Eiden made a biting motion with his teeth and Dakini got the message, she immediately took a bite out of the fruit. After the fruit landed on her tongue she immediately squealed in happiness, shaking her legs up and down rapidly. The look in her eyes held nothing but happiness and pleasure, Rosa on the other hand smiled along with Eiden. "It's an Amasanchibanka. It looks like a Tomato, but its very fresh and sweet like a fruit. Do you like it?" Eiden said.

In response Dakini eagerly nodded her head, she wanted more of the delightful taste that proper food could bring her. "Well that's good! You can have more when you're done" Eiden said cheerfully.

Eiden turned his head away from Dakini and looked into his bag which contained the rest of the fruit, he was about to reach in when something terrible began to happen. Dakini looked at the Amasanchibanka with a smile however that changed a second later as her eyes dilated and her smile vanished. In the next second Dakini had tears welling up in her eyes as she panted, this was followed by a coughing fit as she dropped her fruit.

"Dakini?!" Eiden exclaimed, Rosa immediately took notice of what was happening and she rose up in anger.

"What did you do?! What the hell did you do to those fruits?!" Rosa yelled.

"What?! Me?! I didn't do a damn thing, I don't know what you're talking about!" Eiden shot back. Rosa hardly believed him but decided not to escalate things into violence, what she needed to do right now was help her distressed companion. Abandoning her conversation with Eiden she rushed over to Dakini who was now screaming in agony, her voice reaching far and wide. Quickly, one of her fingers shifted into a needle and Rosa injected liquid painkillers into Dakini's bloodstream. These particular painkillers were also designed on the fly to be able to put their users into sleep for a short time. Dakini abruptly stopped her screaming and slumped over in a deep slumber, her expression was one of peace as the pain ended. Rosa approached the sleeping form of Dakini and scooped the poor fox girl up in her arms. "Here, you can take care of her seeing as you started this mess" Rosa said bitterly.

Eiden was about to say something in protest but stopped as he caught sight of Rosa's hard expression, an expression that held both ice and fire at the same time. She would not tolerate any further arguments instead she pulled the Silver Agito's shell along with her. Refusing to be left alone with a sleeping Dakini, Eiden gathered the rest of his belongings and left the campsite. A short distance from the campsite Rosa set the Agito shell down on its side so that it could serve as a makeshift shelter. She used her biomass to create three sleeping bags and set them against the inside of the shell where they were covered by the overhanging left side of the shell.

Eiden quickly caught up with Rosa and saw that she was creating their shelter, he approached wordlessly knowing that Rosa didn't want to talk. Soon after the shelter had been completed it began to rain, the two plus one sleeping fox girl stayed under the Agito shell. A moment later and Dakini woke up from her drug induced sleep, her expression bore confusion before it changed to a smile. Her two best friends were with her and she could not be happier, day by day her love for Eiden and Rosa was growing. They had cared for her, fed her, and most importantly helped her combat the Sky Golems.

Suddenly the sound of thunder made itself known, the rainstorm had turned into a thunderstorm as of now. Eiden began to tremble and shake as the thunder reminded him of the thing that he feared the most, a Golem's straight thunder. "Calm down, Eiden. That's just thunder, ordinary thunder" Eiden thought to himself

"There's nothing to be scared of, but I can't help myself. Damn it…damn it…this isn't right!" Eiden continued his thought process, Rosa had taken notice of Eiden's inner turmoil but decided to let things play out instead of intervene.

"Dakini suffered today because of me! Why did I want to travel along with Dakini? Because I didn't want to leave her all by herself." Eiden thought, his trembling had not stopped.

"I thought that even someone as miserable as me…could be of use to her in some way!" Eiden thought, another thunderbolt roared in the distance.

"Why am I trembling?! Why?! Why?!" Eiden thought, his thoughts booming in his head.

"Ei…" A single syllable was spoken by Dakini, her expression one of calm and nothing else. Once she had Eiden's attention she began to draw something around the both of them in the dirt. A moment later and she had finished drawing a signal line in the dirt, the same ones used to indicate the protective boundaries of GBR. Dakini held onto Eiden's trembling hand with both of her own, a wide smile on her face as Eiden shed tears. Rosa let a soft smile dominate her expression as she observed this display of affection, Rosa loved beautiful moments like this. The two stayed like that for a moment before drifting off to sleep, Dakini lay in Eiden's welcoming arms and Eiden lay next to Dakini. Deciding to stay up for the rest of the night Rosa served as a silent vigil watching over and guarding the two.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Marebito

**AN: I'd really appreciate some reviews, tell me how I can improve. **

The chirping of exotic birds and buzzing of insects was what greeted Rosa as morning arrived that day, she had not moved an inch throughout the entire night. She blinked as a foreign parrot looked down at her from atop her head, it had yellow and blue feathers. A minute later and the bird was gone, flying off into the horizon which was filled with the rising sun of a foreign land. Ever since she had arrived, which had been two weeks prior, she found herself enjoying life among these anthropomorphic animals. Life back home or what was left of it had been boring and dreary, nothing of note happened which is exactly why it was so boring. Rosa stared at her two companions, in the short time that she came to know these two people she had enjoyed life more than ever before. She enjoyed life in this strange land because it gave her new creatures to consume, her moral compass had never really gotten in the way when it came to consuming things. Traveling with both Eiden and Dakini had also done wonders for her loneliness, before arriving in this strange land she lived alone in the rural countryside.

Turning her head to the right Rosa took in the sleeping forms of Dakini and Eiden, she focused on Dakini in particular. Dakini's hair had gold accents, this time around she had orchids in her hair, and her two-piece swimsuit had become somewhat raggedy. Rosa wanted to know more about Dakini, unfortunately she rarely spoke and wasn't capable of reading or writing which left her methods of communication very limited. Rosa reached out a hand to pet Dakini's head however Dakini woke up and she hesitated, Dakini's eyes slowly drifted open. Dakini observed the outstretched hand reaching towards her and took it in her own comparatively smaller hands, a cheerful smile spread across her face. Dakini's smile was infectious and a smile also appeared on Rosa's face, the two stayed like that for a moment before separating. Soon afterwards Eiden had also awakened, he stretched his arms and gave a lengthy yawn.

"Morning Rosa, did you sleep well?" Eiden said, Dakini simply did her usual flower gesture with her hand.

"Actually, I stayed up all night to keep watch over the two of you" Rosa replied.

"What?! Doesn't everyone need sleep?" Eiden said, surprise clear in his tone.

"That isn't the case for a Blacklight being such as I, I'm not bound by fatigue, hunger, or life expectancy" Rosa said.

This statement left Eiden perplexed since he couldn't comprehend how something so impossible was standing before him, she didn't even have any bags under her eyes. Despite all that he knew about Rosa a seed of doubt still found its way into the corner of Eiden's mind, he wasn't going to believe it despite being a witness.

"Well, we better move on with our day" Rosa said, this snapped Eiden out of his train of thought.

"Eiden why don't you check our position on the map and Dakini could you make sure we're headed in the right direction by use of your horn" Rosa said, Dakini quickly got to work by sprouting a horn out of her forehead.

"Sure" Eiden said nonchalantly, he fished inside his handbag and took out his map.

It only took Eiden a moment to figure out that he and his companions had ended up a little bit to the west from where they fought the Silver agito. Observing Dakini's horn and the direction that it was pointing towards Eiden took another moment to bring up his compass. The needle pointed north east which meant they were still heading north in general. "If we keep heading in this direction, we will reach the city of Karakuma" Eiden said.

"Well, I hope there are some noteworthy sights to see there" Rosa remarked.

"It's an old city but one with a lot of attractions, I haven't been there myself though" Eiden said.

"Interesting" That was the only response that Eiden got from Rosa.

The trio started their trek towards the city of Karakuma, undoubtedly this would be the site of their next battle against the Sky Golems. While walking Dakini continually barraged both Eiden and Rosa with questions regarding the local wildlife, any plant she came across, and even inanimate objects like clouds. While walking Rosa became lost in thought which meant that Eiden became the one to answer any of Dakini's many questions. She thought of how Eiden questioned if she had killed anyone before, especially within this land. When she had told him that she hadn't murdered anyone by consuming them it was lie, a lie that had managed to slip past Eiden's radar. Upon arriving in this nameless land Rosa maintained the form of a mass of writhing black tentacles which was small in overall size. For several days she searched for any outstanding or special individuals to consume, only on her third day of searching did she locate a suitable target. She had spotted what the natives of this land called a "Marebito", after consuming a random native she found out more information regarding the so-called Marebitos. These creatures were known for their unusual physical traits which their species wouldn't normally possess. For example, a sheep bearing scales or spines on their body, this would be enough to categorize someone as a Marebito.

Rosa had spotted her target in the center of some city, said target being a seven tailed kitsune which interested her to no end. As a tiny black mass of writhing tentacles, she hopped along the roof tops of each building going completely unnoticed. Eventually she followed her target to a decent looking condo, she never bothered getting the names for the surrounding locations. Rosa was focused solely on her objective to consume the seven tailed kitsune and receive her target's genetic data. As day turned to night Rosa waited for the moment that she could strike, she didn't want to traumatize her target so she'd wait for the kitsune to fall asleep. Rosa snuck into the closet containing the kitsune's wardrobe and began biding her time, this would soon be her moment. Several hours later and the kitsune climbed into her silken bed, the bed itself was something that Rosa felt a tinge of envy towards since she could never have the opportunity to possess one. Squeezing out from under the closet door and reforming into her true form, the human known as Rosa inched her way towards the kitsune with utter silence. Without a moment to lose Rosa gripped the Kitsune's head and twisted with every ounce of her strength, throughout this moment the kitsune barely even had time to open her eyes before her neck snapped.

Rosa looked down at the lifeless green eyes of the kitsune and thrust her arm forward, her arm pierced the dead kitsune's chest. The body of the seven tailed kitsune was engulfed in several black tentacles, the tentacles themselves breaking the body down into biomass and drawing it into Rosa's body. A rush of memories flooded Rosa's mind however the memories she focused on were of the kitsune's identity. The kitsune's name was Kana Hoffman, she was living by herself and was a popular rising star in the music industry within this land. Rosa didn't feel any remorse instead opting to peruse through more of Kana's memories, she took notice of Kana's myriad fans and friends. Taking a moment to think of a solution Rosa came up with a plan that would surely allow her to avoid suspicion, biomass began leaking from her finger tips and pooling in Kana's silken bed. The biomass took the shape of Kana however she was by no means a powerful lifeform or Blacklight being, she was weak and unable to consume any living being. Rosa did this so that Kana could continue her life, unfortunately the original Kana was dead and a clone had taken her place.

Rosa looked back mournfully at the past however she still didn't regret her murder, soon her reverie was interrupted by a passing comment from Eiden. "Is that smoke in the distance?"

Following Eiden's gaze Rosa's eyes fell upon a thin column of smoke that was rising from what looked like a nearby cave. Using her augmented sense of smell she could tell that the smoke smelled like GBR, in fact it was GBR and a particularly strong type too. Without a moment to lose Rosa ran towards the direction of the cave leaving her two friends in the dust.

"W-wait for us Rosa!" Eiden shouted, Rosa did not slow down.

Eiden and Dakini were suddenly left to chase after Rosa as she made her way to the cave at alarming speeds, once at the cave she began examining the source of the smoke. Rosa noticed that the smoke was coming from a round container made of clay, the container had several signal line patterns on its surface.

"Is that GBR in the form of incense?" Eiden said, Dakini had a curious expression.

"Yes, as I'm sure you can see" Rosa answered.

"Here take this" Rosa handed the incense to Eiden who began explaining what it was to Dakini who listened eagerly. Looking deeper into the cave Rosa noticed the light that was emanating from within, she walked further in to investigate. What she found in the small cavern deeper inside gave her a little bit of a surprise, a fox variant was slumbering within the small cavern. The fox variant had white black tipped ears like Rosa, large claws for hands, and strangely enough a pair of hooves for its feet. Rosa observed that the variant also had a buxom chest, her hair is white and done in a ponytail, and she sported wide hips. Last but not least the variant wore a large orange turtle neck along with a thin pair of overalls, she was somewhat taller than Rosa. Rosa stood over the variant pondering on her next course of action when Dakini and Eiden walked in behind her. Unlike Rosa Eiden's surprise was clear on his face, on the other hand Dakini merely had an expression of curiosity as she tilted her head slightly.

"Is… is that a Marebito? No, more importantly why is she just sleeping here?" Eiden queried.

"Well, I'd imagine she hid here in order to get away from all the great beetles" Rosa answered.

"Right" Was all that Eiden had to say.

Dakini could not resist her curiosity and tugged on Eiden's coat in order to ask him about the fox variant, she tilted her head slightly to express her question. "Hold on, let me just illustrate this a little on my sketch book" Eiden said.

Taking out his sketch book Eiden drew pictures of three dogs, the first canine had nothing remarkable, the second canine had a pair of horns, and the third canine had a coat of scales. "Here's an example, I belong to the canine family and a canine Marebito would look like…"

Eiden pointed to the second canine that he had drawn as well as the third canine, he paused for a very short moment before continuing. "This is what a Marebito of the canine family would look like"

Dakini was somewhat mesmerized by the simple illustrations and Eiden's explanation, perhaps it was because she now knew that creatures that were considered different like her existed. Eiden continued with another statement. "Long ago while I was still a child the Marebito were seen as monsters and were openly hated"

At this statement Dakini showed a tinge of concern in her expression, she didn't want people to hate her even if it was just a little. "People discriminated against them because they weren't ordinary beings, not knowing what they are is frightening" Eiden concluded.

Dakini's expression still held its concern as she took hold of Eiden's sketch book, she pointed at the drawing of the first canine and then pointed at Eiden.

"Yeah, that's me" Eiden said.

"Hey, we shouldn't be tarrying here any longer. Remember our mission" Rosa said

"Right but we can't just leave her here. Her GBR has just about run out" Eiden reasoned.

"Then take her with us, just carry her" Rosa said.

At that statement Eiden attempted to lift up the variant however this was to no avail as he lacked the strength required for such an action. "H-heavy… I can't… carry her at all!"

For all the struggling done by Eiden he could not carry the variant even an inch forward, seeing his struggles Dakini took over the endeavor and carried the variant with ease.

"Oooh as expected! Ah! Wait!" Eiden said.

The trio left the cave and arrived in front of the Agito shell which had been left at the front of the cave, stopping in front of the shell Dakini gently deposited the variant in the Agito shell. They would use the Agito shell as a makeshift sled, before anyone had noticed what little space was left had become dominated by flowers of all kind. Dakini had decorated the Agito shell with a myriad of flowers, the variant now lay in a bed of flowers.

"Dakini don't you think that's enough floral décor?" Eiden said.

Dakini's response to this was to jump just high enough to place one more flower among Eiden's hair, enough was never enough for Dakini when it came to flowers. Suddenly Rosa sensed something headed their way, it was faint at first but quickly the tremors grew in intensity. In the distance both Rosa and Dakini managed to spot a large herd of Silver Agitos headed in their direction. At this revelation Dakini unsheathed her sword which drew some surprise from Eiden, what could possibly be happening now he wondered.

"Dakini, what the hell…?" Eiden queried, before anyone could answer him, he spotted exactly what had everyone on edge. Wordlessly Eiden jumped into the unoccupied front of the Agito shell and Dakini kicked the ground at the back in order to get the shell moving down the slope in front of them. Rosa decided that she'd just use her abundant agility to run alongside her two friends, quickly the Silver Agitos began to make contact by arriving at each side of the sled. In response to this Rosa shifted her arm into a long blade and decapitated a nearby Agito, the Agito was consumed in a surge of black tentacles. The sled began to make its way into another section of the jungle as they passed by the blurred images of trees. Several more Silver Agitos came up beside the sled however they all met the same fate as the first Agito, they had been decapitated. Rosa ignored the surge of memories and resolved to peruse them later, she had other priorities to worry about like defending her friends. By now the herd of great beetles were demolishing every tree that got in their path, the sound of falling trees echoing into the distance. Another half minute of defending her companions and the sled exited out of the tree line and into a clearing. This clearing was like any other that the trio had been in however with one extra detail, it had a deep trench.

"Ei!" Dakini made a sound in order to notify Eiden of the oncoming trench, they'd have to do something quickly or fall to their deaths. Seeing this new development Rosa made the split-second decision to carry the Agito sled over the trench. Increasing her speed, she surged forward and took the Agito sled in both her hands, stopping abruptly she leapt into the air with absurd strength. A small crater was left where she had made her jump, now the trio was flying through the air with the wind rushing through their hair. Both Eiden and Dakini were thrilled much like they were riding an amusement park attraction and not fleeing for their lives. On the other side of the trench Eiden spotted something that would definitely ensure their safety, it was a signal line.

"If we make it past that signal line, we should be home free!" Eiden exclaimed.

Several seconds later and the three companions had reached the other side of the trench where they quickly passed the signal line that Eiden had seen. Everyone took a moment to compose themselves after such a hectic escape, Dakini for her part took her unsheathed sword and began to draw something in the air. Eiden noticed this and was surprised to see that she was drawing a signal line in the shape of a circle, she knew that now they would be safe. Rosa simply stood there and smiled alongside her two friends since the fighting was officially over, now she could relax instead of having her heart beat on high. Rosa detected some movement within the Agito sled as the fox variant stirred, slowly the variant rose up into a kneeling position where she rubbed her eyes clean of debris.

"W-where am I? Ooooh, what to do?! I have to get to Karakuma immediately!" The variant said frantically.

"I have to warn them of the Sky Golems!" The variant said.

At this statement Eiden and Dakini grew concerned, what could the fox variant possibly be talking about, what about the Sky Golems? Quickly the fox variant took notice of the other individuals within her immediate vicinity, she rushed up to them with a clearly distraught expression.

"Excuse me! Where are we!?" The variant asked suddenly.

This sudden invasion of personal space caused Dakini to come up between Eiden and the fox variant, she wouldn't let anyone do anything to her treasured companions.

"P-probably the first Karakuma signal line!" Eiden spouted as quickly as he could.

Another question came as quickly as he answered "When did those straight thunders fall on Enoth?!"

"Uh, three days ago…" Eiden said meekly.

Upon hearing this the fox variant became further distraught and rushed off the sled, the force of her action rocking the sled somewhat.

"Wait a minu…" Eiden never got to finish his sentence before the variant had made it a fair distance away from them.

Wanting some answers and not wanting the variant to escape them Rosa rushed after the variant, as she caught up, she restrained the variant in her inescapable embrace. This only caused the fox variant to struggle with renewed vigor however Rosa did something that no one expected. Rosa kissed the variant square on the lips and she used her tongue to force the variant's mouth open. A liquid with no viscosity forced its way down the fox's throat and the instant it entered her system she calmed down. Rosa had just administered a liquid pacifying agent to calm the variant down, throughout the entire process the variant had a deep blush and a wide-eyed expression. After the variant had calmed down Rosa separated from her as the variant stood stock still, she was completely stunned that someone would actually be so intimate with her. Eiden and Dakini approached the only other two people within the clearing, they like Rosa had questions that needed to be answered. The fox variant still sported a deep blush with the addition of a nervous expression when Rosa decided to begin questioning. "My name is Rosa, may I ask who you are?"

"I'm Prakasha" The fox muttered meekly.

"Why do you need to get to Karakuma so urgently?" Eiden queried.

"W-well, its just that Karakuma will be attacked soon and I don't even know if the attack has begun already. Through my research and my report, they should be warned, hopefully they'll evacuate after being convinced" Each member of the group, excluding Prakasha, donned a thoughtful expression upon hearing the driving reason for Prakasha's state when she was discovered in the cave.

"Well don't worry about it, we will help you reach Karakuma in any way we can, I'm Eiden and this little girl is Dakini" Dakini did her usual flower gesture as Eiden introduced the both of them.

Upon hearing this Prakasha burst into tears and began sobbing loudly, tears of joy began falling down the sides of her face in a profuse stream.

"T-thank you, this means a lot to me!" Prakasha gushed.

The trio could only smile at this appreciation and Prakasha's sobbing lasted for at least five minutes before she calmed down. Now that everyone was ready to make their way to Karakuma Rosa advised Eiden to map out the location of the nearest bus stop. Compass in hand he gave the map a quick look over before responding. "The nearest bus stop should be north west of our current position"

Hearing this her hope in her current endeavor became renewed, Prakasha eagerly trotted in the direction that Eiden had indicated. Wordlessly the other three members of the group followed the marebito, Prakasha's gait now held determination. The new quartet made their way into the tree line with a sense of urgency, if they could evacuate the entire city the battle would be much easier. Thinking to herself Rosa wouldn't have to protect anyone and could instead focus on assisting Dakini, that prospect made her excited despite loathing the promise of combat. The trees of the Karakuma jungle passed them by at a brisk pace now that steady progress was being made to reaching their destination. Thinking further about the upcoming battle Rosa knew that she'd have to create minions out of her biomass if she intended to save civilians throughout an entire city. Afterall she couldn't be everywhere at once but with the use of biomass clones she could effectively save almost everyone if not everyone. Half an hour later the quartet found themselves exiting the tree line once again, an open road that stretched on for as far as the eye could see lay before them. On the opposite side of the road a lone bus stop sat there covered in some slight rust, it seemed that it had fallen into a bit of neglect.

Walking up to the bus stop and taking a seat the two companions plus Prakasha sat quietly waiting for the next bus while Rosa took a look at the transit schedule. Luckily Rosa had already gained knowledge of this land's language from consuming the locals that lived here, the next bus would arrive in twenty minutes. The waiting was completely uneventful and so to pass the time Eiden began chatting with Dakini about literally anything, while this was happening Prakasha's gaze was fixated on Rosa. For her part Rosa was staring blankly into the sky as her mind wandered to thoughts about their upcoming battle. Prakasha was mesmerized by Rosa's beauty and she simply could not look away however she did have something to say to this stunning symbol of beauty.

"Rosa may I speak with you for a moment?" Prakasha said, her voice still meek.

"What is it?" Rosa said

"You remind me of my mother, its really calming" Prakasha said.

"Is that so? Well I'm glad to be a pleasant presence" Rosa said, she had a thin smile on her face.

"Before your introduction, why did you kiss me?" Prakasha questioned.

"Because I can" Rosa said with a sly smile.

Hearing this gave Prakasha nothing but frustration even if it was just a little, she didn't want to be kissed by someone she barely knew. On the other hand, it did feel nice to get intimate since she'd never had anything like it outside of her time studying. Just thinking about it made her blush however she didn't want to say anything further about it with Rosa. Several more minutes passed before the growling of someone's stomach could be heard, everyone turned their heads to Prakasha who looked down in embarrassment.

"Sounds like someone is hungry" Both Eiden and Rosa said simultaneously.

Rummaging through her hand bag Prakasha found that somewhere along the way she had lost her wallet and thus her ability to purchase the amount of food that she regularly enjoyed evaporated. This caused her expression to become crestfallen, at this development Rosa laid a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring expression.

"Worry not young Prakasha, I have something that'll help" Rosa said.

Rosa began leaking biomass from the tips of her fingers and this biomass took on the shape of a cube, it was a cube of jelly half the size of a basket ball. Rosa handed the newly created jelly cube to Prakasha. "Here, it's a Blacklight ration"

Prakasha hesitated to ingest the strange food that Rosa had just produced but seeing the expression that Rosa bore gave her the resolve to go through with it, Rosa's expression held no ill intent. Shoving the entire cube in her mouth the instant she began chewing Prakasha found that the ration's flavor was that of mango pudding. The most peculiar thing about the ration was that after she had finished the cube off her hunger disappeared completely, she had been utterly satiated.

"Thank you Rosa" Prakasha said.

"No problem" That was the response that she got. The rest of their time waiting for the next bus to arrive was spent in relative silence since Eiden and Dakini were the only ones conversing. Soon the quartet could see their bus arriving in the distance. It was a large red double decker bus that greeted them, as all four of them got on Eiden paid the fare for four people. Having paid for their bus fare the driver stepped down on the gas pedal and rushed forward, the electronic display above him read next stop Karakuma. Getting seated the four intrepid defenders of the nameless land set out to stop their enemy from spreading tragedy, their heads held high.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Imminent disaster

**Credit and thanks Go to Aluxander01 for the new cover image, on Twitter aluxander01. By the way expect infrequent updates.**

The bus ride to Karakuma had proven to be a lengthy one as Rosa began to fall asleep, her head lay against the top of the seat. She knew what sleeping entailed but still did it in order to appear like a normal person, everyone would be suspicious if they thought she didn't sleep. Slowly Rosa began to drift off to sleep and nobody noticed this not even Prakasha who was sitting next to her. Prakasha for her part was too absorbed in organizing her notes to pay attention to anything else. Minutes passed by at a sluggish pace but soon enough Rosa left the realm of the conscious and entered the realm of her nightmares. She soon found herself standing in a nearly pitch-black void where the only source of light came from a single ray of light from above. Rosa took several steps forward and noticed the wet feeling of a liquid at her feet, each step sending a small splash and ripple in the unseen liquid. She lifted her foot up to inspect the liquid and was concerned to find that she had stepped in blood, everywhere she went the pool of blood knew no boundaries. Walking in whatever direction she pleased Rosa was anxious with what horrors could suddenly jump out and confront her. Soon she entered a white corridor that stretched on for a good distance before leading to a door at the very end. The corridor itself had practically nothing to speak of, it was simply white and nothing else. Rosa charged to the end of the corridor and slowly opened the door, taking a closer look at the door Rosa noticed that the handle was drenched in blood. This only added to her trepidation as the room beyond came into her view, the room itself was nothing new to Rosa. It was a room filled with blood and entrails to the extent that one would think that a fierce struggle had occurred in this room.

By now such a scene would not bother her in the slightest since she had become used to it, desensitized would be a better way to describe it. Suddenly the electricity within the room cut out, this didn't hinder Rosa as her eyes had evolved to see in the dark. She possessed numerous traits taken from other creatures which would give her an advantage in the dark. Almost a second later and the darkness was lifted however once it was Rosa wished the lights had stayed off. Rosa was now surrounded by a throng of bloodied humans, most of them she recognized but the distinct feature that they all shared was that the skin on their faces had been ripped off. Her name was echoed by the nightmarish entities in a disjointed manner, by now Rosa was sweating bullets and a terrified expression sat on her face. She knew these entities to be the people that she failed to save, during the viral outbreak that destroyed her previous life she would occasionally make the promise to various people that she'd save them. Obviously, she had failed numerous times and now they had come back to haunt her as the wicked could have no rest. The bloodied people shambled in her direction and Rosa wasted no time in backing away, there was another corridor just opposite to the door that she had come in from. The blood leaking faces of the people followed her as she fled, you could see the finer details of their facial muscles and a horrid rictus grimace. Sadly, Rosa was so scared and focused on running that she didn't notice that the corridor she was running down had no door, she was trapped.

The throng of bloody people continued to shamble in her direction, her name forming a ghastly cacophony that escaped their mouths. By now Rosa had her back against the dead end of the corridor that she had gone down. Tears began welling up in her eyes and her breathing became quicker than it already was.

"I'm sorry" Rosa began to repeat these words over and over; she lamented her failures however there was nothing that could be done about it.

Her tears finally began to flow freely and she resigned herself to her inevitable fate as the throng closed in on her. She didn't notice the glowing line behind her that began to form the shape of a door, out of the door came a familiar marebito. Prakasha suddenly rushed in with a concerned expression, her eyes focused solely on the kitsune in distress. "Rosa wake up!"

Prakasha grabbed hold of Rosa's shoulders and began to shake her relentlessly, soon everything began to fade. A sign that the kitsune was waking up which would bring her relief from her nightmare, the bloody figures began to disappear one by one. As the last of them disappeared everything went black and the void that the two inhabited was no more.

* * *

In order to pass time Eiden and Dakini began to explore the top floor of the double decker bus, upstairs they were met with a tiny café and boutique. The café and boutique both caught Dakini's eyes, she ran over to one of the tables closest to the counter where she eyed the menu. Behind the counter stood a Panda who was in the process of creating ramen for a mole customer, the mole had a very enthusiastic look on his face. Dakini watched as the panda chef pulled the noodles from each end which caused the uncooked noodles to lengthen, the panda then began to move the noodles in a way not unlike that of a jump rope. After several seconds Dakini shifted her attention back to the menu and turned to Eiden, she pointed at the menu and tilted her head once again in order to pose a question.

"That is a menu, you can order food with it but you have to pay for it" Hearing this got another round of applause from Dakini who was always delighted that Eiden or Rosa would answer her questions.

"Dakini why don't we check out that boutique? I'd like to get you something to wear besides that raggedy old swimsuit" Dakini simply smiled and followed Eiden to the boutique.

Within the boutique there was an admittedly impressive variety of clothes despite the small size of the boutique itself. Everything from party dresses to dress shirts, there was one particular article of clothing that Dakini gravitated to the most. It was a red dress with a gold border, the dress also came with a small pair of shorts which was a relief to Eiden. The dress itself resembled a qipao but only vaguely, looking at the dress himself Eiden imagined Dakini wearing it. Deciding that he had made up his mind Eiden turned towards Dakini in order to ask her if she wanted the dress.

"Dakini would you like me to buy that dress?"

Dakini's eyes began to sparkle and she vigorously nodded her head, Eiden smiled at Dakini's childish enthusiasm since it always brought a smile to his face.

"I'd like that dress over there" The clerk behind the counter, a slim male sheep, nodded and handed the dress in a bag to Eiden.

"That'll be 4500 yen, please"

Eiden reached into his wallet and handed the money to the clerk who directed them to the adjacent changing room. The room itself was just as small as the boutique in comparison however it had plenty of room for someone of Dakini's size.

"I'll wait for you outside, make a sound if you have trouble putting on your dress" Dakini nodded at that statement and quickly entered the changing room, the back of the dress left some space so that the wearer's back was somewhat exposed. There were two thick strings at the back that would hold the dress together when worn, Dakini slipped her legs through the opening in the back of the dress and used the mirror to tie the two strings together. Now that she was actually wearing the dress, she left the change room and came out with her arms raised in the air, a bright smile accompanied her cheerful flare.

"You look good Dakini! I'm glad I bought that dress"

Now that their business had been taken care of the two friends headed back down to the first floor of the bus. Eiden almost immediately noticed that something was amiss, most of the other passengers had their eyes on Rosa. While they weren't directly looking at her, they still had their eyes on her and they all wore concerned expressions. For her part Rosa was sobbing quietly and being held by Prakasha who had set her report papers aside. Taking the empty seat beside Rosa and Prakasha the two friends were deeply concerned for their shapeshifting partner.

"What happened?" Eiden asked.

"She had a nightmare" Prakasha allowed Rosa to continue leaning on her as she went back to organizing her papers and double checking her research. As that exchange ended Eiden gazed out the window near their seat and spotted the city of Karakuma. It was now much closer, so much so that they were nearly in the city proper, the city itself had a large wall encompassing it on all sides in a circle. The bus was entering through one of the smaller gates which had a couple of guards keeping watch but beyond that there wasn't much else.

As the bus moved throughout the outskirts of the city Eiden noticed that they were passing by a plantation of sorts, he recognized the plants being harvested as the base ingredient for GBR. This would be the first step in manufacturing large quantities of great beetle repellent, both for commercial and industrial use. Turning away from the sights passing them by Eiden turned his attention back to Rosa who was still sobbing. He was now both deeply curious and worried about her wellbeing but more importantly he wanted her to open up to him in a conversation, a one on one conversation.

To Eiden much of Rosa's past was a mystery and he only knew what kind of creature that she truly was but everything else was uncharted territory. Very soon they would have to sit down with each other and talk about her past life before she came to this nameless land. As that thought ended the bus was now leaving the outskirts of the city and transitioning deeper into the city through another gate. Everywhere Eiden looked he could see wonderful and culturally enriched architecture, one of the streets looked like it led down to a marketplace. There were hundreds of people out and walking throughout the streets of Karakuma, as Eiden drank in the sights the bus headed into a nearby station.

"Final stop, Karakuma shopping district" The message on the intercom would go on to repeat itself once more in case anyone had missed it.

As the bus came to a stop Prakasha stored her notes within her hand bag and quietly told Rosa to get up from her seat, she did so without saying anything. Steadily each passenger disembarked from the bus and found their way onto the station's passenger pickup platform. There weren't many passengers that had rode the bus alongside Eiden and company, everyone aside from the quartet of friends left to attend to their own business.

"Thanks to all of you for getting me to Karakuma" Prakasha said, she was immeasurably grateful since her timely warning could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

"Although I hope it wasn't too much trouble, I even lost my wallet" Prakasha said, mostly dejected.

"Its alright we'll make our money back by selling these Silver Agito parts" Eiden had hauled the Silver Agito's shell along with all the individual parts hanging from it on his back. They unfortunately weren't able to find anyone with an enticing enough deal; Rosa had insisted that they get a large sum of money due to the creature's rarity. Ultimately Eiden agreed with Rosa and would even go on to let her seal any future deals that she would make with the beetle's parts.

Wiping her tears Rosa finally spoke up. "Its imperative that you inform this city's leaders immediately, go tell the people that'll listen!"

"We will meet again once the evacuation has started!" Eiden meant this as a promise and it was interesting how quickly some people could bond. That being said Prakasha made her way to the authority figures of Karakuma city, her hooves moving with the utmost urgency.

"We should head to the market, perhaps there we can find someone to buy these Agito parts" Rosa headed down the nearest avenue and a sign at the side of the road read Karakuma shopping district, they'd have to take a left.

"Wait for us!" Eiden and Dakini were close behind but they just couldn't match Rosa's long strides, that and her athletic physique made it much harder.

As Rosa walked down the streets of Karakuma she could feel a great many eyes turning towards her, discreetly moving her eyes she could see the desire in everyone's eyes. There were whispers of how attractive she was and it appeared that her disguise was attracting too much attention. In hindsight she shouldn't have made her anthropomorphic form to be so alluring to both sexes, even if she wanted to be beautiful. Unfortunately, she couldn't just change forms in public and in broad daylight since that would cause all sorts of chaos. Rosa would simply have to endure the lascivious and wanting looks that she was getting from almost everyone around her. Eiden had noticed the attention that Rosa was receiving and appeared to be amused by it while Dakini was clueless as to why everyone was either staring or sneaking glances at her friend. Walking further into the shopping district Rosa waltzed up to the first stall that caught her eye and called for the stall owner.

"Hey! How may I help you?" The stall owner could barely hide his wonder at seeing such a lovely person but Rosa saw through his fake smile, it almost irritated her but she didn't really care enough.

"Do you perhaps know where we could find someone to buy these Silver Agito parts?" Rosa shifted her gaze to Eiden who was still hauling the Agito parts around and Dakini who had taken it upon herself to lighten the load on his back.

"O-oh! Well you could probably get some coin from Karakuma's museum, it should be right here!" The stall owner pulled out a map of his own and pointed to an area that was five blocks east of the shopping district.

The trio thanked the stall owner for his help and went on their way, Rosa knew that with her persuasive abilities that getting a deal out of the museum staff would be no problem. There was much to see in the market place which bustled with people of all kinds, people of many species from foxes to avian and lupine creatures. The amount of people that currently stood within Karakuma's market was a healthy crowd, thankfully the location wasn't completely packed and one could still move with relative ease. Rosa ignored all of the wanting looks that she received and continued to focus on the city's pleasant architecture. One building had something that resembled a disco ball fixed above its entrance, various banners hung below it. Her focus was redirected when Dakini suddenly took interest in a small store front that sold a variety of books, Eiden and Rosa momentarily became sidetracked to entertain Dakini's curiosity. Dakini grabbed hold of an artbook and began flipping through it, she became engrossed within a matter of seconds.

"Excuse me! Is it alright if we take a look at this?" The store owner, a cat lady, gave an affirmative nod before going back to reading the local newspaper.

Dakini continued to flip through the pages of the artbook which featured various pictures of the domestic life of random people, she was still interested nevertheless. Eiden looked over her shoulder and remarked about how the artistic talent may have hailed from his hometown, all this happened as Rosa stood there once again lost in thought.

Being in such a bustling city reminded her of her previous life, a time where she wasn't an incredibly dangerous and powerful viral lifeform. A time where she was just a normal young lady but those times were long gone and the more she reminisced the more she longed for the days of the past. While Rosa stood stock still Eiden and Dakini came across a page in the artbook which featured a fireworks display. This particular page caught her attention out of all the other pages and she immediately turned to Eiden for an answer.

"Those are fireworks" In response Dakini did her flower gesture and Eiden simply chuckled in amusement.

"Yes, they do look like flowers" Eiden almost always had a smile when Dakini behaved like this, perhaps raising a child was what he needed to help ease his mental illnesses.

"A ball containing coloured powder is launched into the air where fireworks bloom in the sky" At this statement Dakini did her flower gesture again only this time it was twice the size as she tried to mimic the supposed size of the fireworks that Eiden described.

"Yes, but bigger" Again Dakini increased the size of the flower that she made with her gesture which only caused more amusement from Eiden as he played along with Dakini.

"More!" This time Dakini did her gesture around the backside of a bottom-heavy Panda woman who only tilted her head in confusion as to what was happening.

"S-stop" Eiden said sheepishly.

Meanwhile Rosa was still lost in thought and hadn't noticed the exchange between Eiden and Dakini. She dearly hoped that this land would not fall into ruin much like her previous home, she had decided that she would make this land her new home. She knew her hope was nothing but wishful thinking as with each passing day the threat of the Sky Golems could easily annihilate her hope. She knew that it would be up to her, Dakini, and any other creature like her to defend this land to their dying breath. Rosa refused to let this land become a wasteland like her previous home, to that end she would use every bit of skill and power that she had acquired over the course of several centuries.

"Eiden stay here and watch over her, I'm heading to the museum" Rosa motioned to Dakini who was still attempting to create the perfect sized flower in the air.

"Sure, just don't take too long…" Eiden had finally managed to get Dakini to settle down and they were now both continuing through the pages of the artbook together. Eiden knew that Rosa could take care of herself and she had proven that several times when she built a camp for them.

That being said Rosa began to walk the rest of the distance to the museum where she would make a profit off of Dakini's haul. She wondered how Prakasha was faring in her efforts to persuade the authority figures of Karakuma, should she fail then Rosa would have to take immediate measures to protect the citizens from the imminent attack. In situations where she couldn't be everywhere at once she would produce multiple clones meant to divide the work load. As that thought came and went Rosa began to run at a fair pace, she was hauling the Agito parts that she had taken from Eiden and Dakini along with her. Soon she would arrive at her destination and hopefully her business wouldn't take too long, she and Dakini had an important schedule to keep up after all.

* * *

Prakasha had wasted no time in seeking out her teacher who was present for Karakuma's student festival. The festival itself was an art and culture festival where students from all around the continent would gather in one place to show off their creations. Needless to say, if the people within the city didn't evacuate in time it would certainly be the worst bloodbath in the history of this land. In what felt like an unbearable amount of time Prakasha and her teacher had arrived at Karakuma's city hall where the city council resided, this would be the moment that could decide the fate of the city and its citizens. Opening the double doors to the meeting hall Prakasha came face to face with a fair-sized group of experienced individuals, most of them radiated an aura of wisdom. Prakasha was nervous and almost froze up due to the looks that each council member threw at her each time they looked at her. Thankfully Kayoh, her mother, was there to instill confidence in her so that she could deliver her message without fail.

"Your predictions may be assumptions however they are most convincing" One council member said, he was a middle-aged horse.

"Its hard to believe but these beings that face the Straight Thunders…" A scruffy old red panda trailed off.

"Nevertheless, we should take into account that even in over a thousand years of attacks there has never been a pattern. It is possible to avoid this crisis and that is of immeasurable importance." Kayoh's statement and the seriousness of her expression caught the attention of every other council member in the meeting mall.

"But there are thousands of people in this event how will we evacuate the entire city…" This proved to be one of the many stubborn obstacles that stood in the way of their salvation.

"No, it should in fact be possible" All heads turned to an avian council member

"Because of the student festival, Karakuma now has five times as many busses for the students" Everyone in the room listened with rapt attention.

"In addition to the restoration of the bus route in the south, we've gathered volunteers and knights that are waiting in the outskirts of the city" Prakasha was surprised at this statement, why would an event such as this require such a large security detail?

"I see! They'll have an escort if they get away from the signal line!" Another red panda said.

"Trains can also use the southeast route for the evacuation!" A bear council member said.

"First and foremost, secure the train and all the vehicles to the south! Ask a volunteer or knight for an escort, lets begin the evacuation based off the emergency manual!" The one to speak this time was mayor Hoff, he was a red panda who stood at the center of the meeting hall's table. Mayor Hoff had quite the effeminate visage with his pronounced eyelashes and somewhat long ponytail, people were less likely to blame you if you couldn't recognize him as male.

"We insist that this be communicated to the staff of every department as soon as possible!" The horse councilmen from before said.

"Understood!" A resounding and resolute declaration echoed throughout the meeting hall, today would be the day that the Sky Golems tasted their first major defeat. Every council member except mayor Hoff rushed off to begin their life saving work, Prakasha stayed behind along with her mother and the mayor.

"Prakasha, mayor Kayoh! I'd like to make an announcement of the evacuation to the people of the city and alert those in the streets. After that it should be a race against time, its dangerous but please help me!" Both foxes answered with a yes and the trio rushed off to get the evacuation started.

Meanwhile somewhere within the city Dakini walked up a staircase at the train station, she had wandered off unnoticed as Eiden was too engrossed in the art book to do anything else. She perked her large ears up listening to the distant whispers of beautiful melody, her child-like curiosity simply could not resist. Walking onto the train station's boarding platform she came face to face with someone that left her in a shocked state.

There standing near the edge of the boarding platform was a woman that appeared to be identical to her, the only difference being that this person was much older. This doppelganger appeared to be a young adult, she wore a dress commonly found in Karakuma and held a bouquet of flowers. Dakini could do nothing but stare as the mysterious doppelganger turned to the arriving train, who was this lady? Dakini could do nothing as the doppelganger boarded the train and left in a flash, she stood frozen beyond the edge of the boarding platform

At the museum Rosa exited out the front entrance, a large bag of bills sat in a hollow space that she had created inside of herself. The money had been stuffed inside of her for safe keeping, it also helped that the bag didn't affect her appearance so she was fine. As she walked back to the market place to regroup with Eiden and Dakini a loud noise followed by several tremors caught her attention. Rosa quickly headed into the nearest alley way and hopped onto a roof, from her vantage point she could see that an explosion had occurred at the north gate.

Rosa knew what this meant and quickly sent out a viral pulse, her viral sonar could detect the location of any living being. Moving at terminal speed Rosa wasted no time with zeroing in on Dakini's location, rejoining with Eiden would have to wait.

At the scene of the explosion the city's knights were in slight disarray, they knew not what had caused that explosion but as the dust and smoke cleared, they were met with something terrible. A fair distance outside the city limits stood a tall humanoid Golem, along with it stood dozens upon dozens of Spider Golems. These Spider golems had a round body, six legs, and an animal like skull with vacant black orbs for eyes. The humanoid Golem on the other hand stood at two and a half meters in height, many miniature golem heads lined its arm, and it wielded a staff as its weapon. Six spherical devices floated in front of it, each device had two thin arms where a faint outline of clasped hands could be seen between the end of each arm. The humanoid Golem wore another set of miniature Golem heads which hung as necklaces around its neck. The humanoid Golem also had a pair of avian talons for feet, a large knife is strapped to its shoulder and a halo hovered behind its back. Where the typical Golem head sat there was also half the skull of a bird encasing its head, the humanoid Golem's left eye being a chameleon-like eye and the right eye being normal. Now that the enemy had arrived the battle could truly begin, each knight waited with fear and bated breath as they stared down the hoard of Golems.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Intervention

**Author's note: I haven't updated due to my search for a job, the job market sucks and so does procrastination. Despite this, I'm not willing to give up on this story since so many other people just leave their stories unfinished**

The viral sonar of an evolved Blacklight being is an essential tool for tracking down targets and once spotted the prey's innards will be highlighted in the sight of an evolved. Rosa landed on the roof of a building that was adjacent to Karakuma's train station, from her vantage point she spotted Dakini who stood still in a dazed state. The evolved kitsune wondered why her recently made companion was standing motionless on a train platform. Maybe she was in the process of remembering something or had met someone that triggered the memories of her past. Whatever the cause could be Rosa had no time to think about it since the city was basically under siege, those golems could not be allowed inside the city's walls. Landing on the edge of the train platform Rosa approached her stock-still friend and began shaking her back into reality. Dakini blinked as Rosa came into focus in front of her, she looked around slowly and in a confused manner since she had lost sight of why she even came to the train station.

"Dakini the golems have arrived! You and I have a job to do!". Rosa exclaimed. Upon hearing this Dakini snapped to attention and immediately made Rosa the center of her attention, she lived for this moment.

"They're located just outside the north gate, let me point you in the right direction". Rosa scooped Dakini up before she could react and jumped straight through the roof, a gaping hole was left in the boarding platform's roof. Atop the boarding platform's thin roof Rosa pointed towards Karakuma's north gate where a group of shapes could be seen standing in a line outside the city's outskirts. Dakini needed no provocation before rushing in that direction and much like Rosa she hopped from roof top to roof top. Now that the main issue was out of the way Rosa could proceed with her plan which was fairly straight forward. Despite her collective strength and numerous abilities Rosa could not be everywhere at once which reduced her effectiveness in the event of a siege. However, she had long since rectified this weakness by being able to divide herself into multiple copies, these copies were absolutely loyal to the original. In the event that they did go rogue a gene that's inserted into all copies would cause them to become brain dead, one by one their cells would shut down.

Rosa stood still while biomass began leaking from all over her body, the biomass pooled at her feet until it covered most of the roof above the boarding platform. From the pool of biomass rose twenty kitsunes which looked nothing like Rosa, each kitsune had a different face and wore a black cloak with intricate gold patterns. This team of kitsune assassins would be more than enough to handle the oncoming threat that loomed just on their doorstep. The role of the kitsune assassin squad was not limited to combat as they would also serve as rescue workers, they would escort the citizens of Karakuma if needed. Now that Rosa was done creating her copies, she could get on with briefing them on the situation, time was of the essence.

"Your objective is to protect the people of this city and destroy any golem that you come across!". Her voice rang loud and clear across the roof of the boarding platform, the response from each copy was a respectful bow to their master. The copies launched themselves off the roof of the boarding platform with ridiculous speed but truthfully, each of them began making their way towards Karakuma's north gate. Moving onto the next step of her plan Rosa began to make her way towards the north gate, she would assist Dakini instead of fighting her battle. It was crucial that Dakini absorb every bit of experience as a fighter so that she could grow and combat the golem menace. Jumping from building to building she came ever closer to the north gate which was swarming with knights. Each knight carried in their arms a bulky looking gun with three barrels, there were also machine guns mounted above the north gate. Rosa had little to no faith that their weapons would be effective in combating the golems but she would wait to see, her primary goal was to assist Dakini.

Rosa landed on a tower that overlooked the north gate, she remained perched on the roof and eyed her target. The tall bird-like golem stood still while hovering a slight distance off the ground, each of the knights watching it were sweating bullets at the anticipation of its first move. Suddenly and without warning the humanoid golem raised its palm and the faint sound of chanting could be heard. The spherical devices floating around its torso appeared to have transparent hands clasped together in a gesture of prayer between their rope like arms. A second later, a miniature tornado formed in the palm of the golem's claws before each spider golem was propelled forward by seemingly nothing. Shouts of alarm and despair rang out in the ramparts above the north gate as each knight trained their weapon on the insurmountable threat. Dozens of spider golems cartwheeled their way across the distance that separated them from the knights and the city. As the spider golems reached the outer walls of Karakuma the knights began a futile effort to spray the load of their weapons onto the golems. Their weapons spewing a sticky gray substance that did little more than immobilize the golems, unfortunately that was all they could muster. The machine guns mounted on the ramparts had no effect as the armor of the golems simply reduced each bullet to a crushed-up shell.

"Damn it all!". A spider golem that had reached the top of the ramparts raised its leg high and was poised to impale the knight through his face. The knight on the other hand couldn't even perceive what happened next, out of nowhere a black blur rushed towards the golem and bisected it. The knight was shielded from the explosion that followed next by the cloaked kitsune that stood before him, he looked in awe at his saviour. Each knight currently manning their station on the ramparts tore their attention away from golems to observe the newcomer. Amongst the spider golems additional black cloaked kitsunes appeared to thin out their numbers and explosions were heard randomly throughout the golem's ranks.

"W-who are you?". The knight operating the mounted machine gun received no answer as the cloaked figure scooped him up in its arms. The rest of the cloaked kitsunes were doing the same, each knight struggled as they were taken from their position. It was astounding how many knights could be carried by one kitsune alone, each knight squirmed as they were left in an uncomfortable bunched up pile. Out of nowhere the ramparts and the north gate erupted in a huge explosion which effectively destroyed their first line of defense. The humanoid golem had unleashed a barrage of Straight thunders upon the outer wall of Karakuma. This allowed the spider golems to continue their advance deeper into the city, the knights that the cloaked kitsunes had gathered up were set free. The knights resumed their futile attempts to immobilize the spider golems, each kitsune ascended onto the roof of any nearby building and watched from their perch.

Something incomprehensible was uttered by the humanoid golem and the miniature golem heads hanging around its neck suddenly sprouted bodies, they leaped off the larger golem and sprung into action. Rosa and her copies picked up on the movement of the miniature golems and the kitsunes sprung into action as well. Each kitsune assassin immediately took off to hunt down the miniature golems with great prejudice, Rosa had ordered them to destroy the golems at all costs. At the same moment several bird knights flew overhead and were headed towards the spider golems that were spilling in through the north gate. As they flew closer, they launched cylindrical rockets that raced towards the spider golems, each rocket exploded and knocked their targets onto their backs. Rosa could do nothing but look on with sadness, nothing these people did could come close to destroying or harming the golems.

By now the knights had formed a defensive line and were spraying as much glue as they could however a few of them had already run out of ammunition. The knights desperately held onto the hope that somehow, they could survive but it was evident that they were fighting a losing battle, to make things worse the mysterious cloaked kitsunes had disappeared. They were the only ones that appeared to have the power to smite the golems, some of the knights struggled to believe in their existence. As if to answer their prayers a black blur jumped over the line of knights and annihilated several Spider Golems with a long horizontal slash. The resulting series of explosions left the knights and air force knights in awe, a young fox girl had just appeared before them and defeated several golems. Dakini had finally arrived at the scene of this desperate battle which reinvigorated the hope that the knights held within their hearts. Dakini's example mirrored that of a predator, she wasted no time in laying waste to the Spider Golems which by now had dwindled drastically in numbers.

The humanoid golem quickly rushed forward as it realized the tide of battle would not turn in its favor, the arrival of these mysterious kitsune assassins was completely unexpected. To make matters worse it could no longer sense the presence of the miniature golems which meant that they had been successfully eliminated. Dakini immediately noticed the advance of the lead golem and readied her blade, the two were mere seconds away from clashing. The two slammed into each other in a test of strength which caused a large shock wave, a large amount of dust had been kicked up into the air. The knights quickly retreated to a safe distance where they could observe the fierce battle that was about to take place, this battle would surely decide the fate of their city. Two straw dolls accompanied the humanoid golem, they had round heads and a bundle of straw for their lower half. The straw dolls stayed safely out of Dakini's reach and the golem between them made it near impossible to reach them. At this point the entirety of the assassin squad had returned and where quickly cleaning up the remaining spider golems.

The humanoid golem roared in defiance at the diminishing odds of victory, it would not back down despite the unexpected and overwhelming tide that it faced. More miniature golems became active from the heads that dangled over its upper body, the tiny golems began to attack Dakini with equally small tridents. Unfortunately for the nasty little creatures most of them were bisected before they could reach the intrepid flower knight. Occupied by their current struggle Dakini had not taken notice of one particular miniature golem that had climbed onto a nearby bus, the golem lunged for Dakini's eyes intent on ripping them apart. Dakini couldn't defend from the humanoid golem's strikes and stop a strike to her face at the same time, her eye had been cut open. The humanoid golem took this opportunity to impale her wrists with the bottom end of its staff, Dakini hardly felt the pain but was still staggered by it. The humanoid golem thrust its sharp clawed hand forward intending to impale Dakini but was blocked when she raised her knee. The clawed hand bounced harmlessly off of her shin guards but that didn't deter the humanoid golem at all and Dakini was met with a subsequently devastating move.

The humanoid golem utilized its staff in order to control the two straw dolls behind it, each doll fired a barrage of smaller straight thunders. The tall golem back flipped away from the resulting explosion and what a magnificent explosion it was. The smoke cleared away and revealed a set of four diamond shaped shields protecting the golem's adversary. Dakini had enlarged her shin and wrist guards to form a durable shield, this both surprised the humanoid golem and frustrated it. Wasting no time in her next move Dakini rushed the tall golem with her sword at the ready, all her instincts screamed at her to tear the golem limb from limb. Another test of strength came except this time both combatants used all their might, a shockwave even bigger than the last erupted in the streets near the north gate. Several knights were knocked off their feet and others scrambled to take cover behind anything they could find. The straw dolls immediately launched another barrage of straight thunders at the young fox but her agility made it damn near impossible to hit her. Dakini nimbly dodged each individual beam however this created another problem, each beam that she dodged was headed for a building or some bystanders.

The kitsune assassins leapt into action and used their various weapons to deflect the straight thunders into the skies where they disappeared harmlessly. The knights and any person that had failed to evacuate looked on in awe at the elite kitsune, the escaping knights and city folk had their eyes glued to their unfamiliar rescuers. Half of the assassin kitsunes broke off and began guiding people that had failed to evacuate off the battlefield, this included the knights. After all what good could the knights do if the battle itself was completely out of their league? While this exchange happened Dakini and the humanoid golem were busy trading blows with neither of them gaining ground over the other, over the course of this battle Rosa had not moved from her position. She remained perched on her roof watching Dakini fight an opponent who was clearly more skilled and experienced than her. The flow of the battle seemed to change when the humanoid golem parried Dakini's overhead swing, the golem moved to impale Dakini straight through the chest. Unfortunately, the golem would never have the upper hand as a black and red spike erupted out the side of a building which forced it to dodge. The golem turned its gaze towards Rosa who had a withering narrowed glare, she would not forgive anyone that harmed her recently made friend.

At this point in time the battlefield around them had become completely deserted, the kitsune assassins had completed their primary objective without fail. The golem was steadily becoming more and more frustrated as time passed on, it was rapidly failing what it had come here to achieve. The people it had come to destroy were being successfully evacuated and its miniature minions were being thwarted by these mysterious newcomers. Things could not be worse for the bird like golem and yet despite that it fought on without reconsidering its current position. Sadly, it could not retreat since defeat was not an option, much like the child it was facing now it could not stray from its one purpose in life. Once again, the two combatants began trading blows and looking for any move that could give them an advantageous position over the other. Disengaging from their relentless attack on each other for a mere moment Dakini took this time to lengthen her sword into a spear, the cloth at the handle of the blade now wrapped most of the weapon. Dakini charged forward and delivered a strong flying kick straight to the golem's face however it didn't even leave a scratch. Dakini quickly followed up with an overhead swing of her spear but was blocked by the golem's staff which proved to be almost equal in durability to her own weapon.

As her weapon made contact with the staff a small group of miniature golems rushed her and managed to tear a fresh cut open on her right eye. The trident wielding tiny devils were subsequently repelled by a palm thrust but the damage had been done. Her previous ocular injury had regenerated and so this latest injury was only a hindrance to her, nonetheless it served its purpose of creating an opening. Another barrage of straight thunders was fired by the straw dolls that accompanied the tall golem which scored a direct hit. Luckily for Dakini she was more than sturdy enough to withstand the deadly force of the straight thunders, as she was falling, she recovered and once again rushed her adversary. Her palms began to glow faintly with power and she unleashed a weighty palm thrust which had the effect of knocking the golem straight into the city's upper wall. The golem rocketed at break neck speeds and crashed into the wall without receiving much damage. Unwilling to let the golem have a moment of respite Dakini leapt forward with the same power that she wielded in her palms except it was being channeled through her feet.

The powerful kick landed and immediately created a crater with cracks spider webbing across the point of impact along Karakuma's upper wall. The golem began to sink a little within the wall due to the force behind the fox girl's kick however it knew just what to do in order to free itself from this situation. A miniature tornado of wind began to build up within its left palm which went on to erupt in a burst of wind, this burst of wind broke the weakened parts of the wall around it and forced them apart. As the golem regained sight of its adversary it looked on in more frustration as its straw dolls had been brutalized by the fox girl. Dakini had impaled the straw doll on the right while the one on the left had the life choked out of it, its energy being devoured by the fox girl. Dakini gazed with the expression of a flaming demon and threw the now ruined straw dolls at the golem, she had begun to take the upper hand in this battle. Once again, she rushed the golem except now, she was empowered by the flames of energy that she had forcefully taken from the straw dolls. The golem began to prepare another blast of wind but it had underestimated the power that the fox girl held; it was instantly met with a flurry of spear swings. Each swing destroyed the spherical devices that the golem was equipped with and produced shallow cuts.

Rosa had left her perch along with the remaining half of the assassin squad, they had all moved onto the roof of a department store to observe and intervene if necessary. Ignoring the numerous shallow cuts that covered its arms and mid section its halo began to gather energy; the energy began charging up as it arced around the halo. The straight thunder that the golem was charging was finally released and what a brilliant beam it was! In order to avoid this Dakini leaned to the right and narrowly avoided the straight thunder however this presented a familiar problem. The beam travelled past the flower knight and towards a building that still held people within it. The other half of the kitsune assassin squad immediately responded to this threat and used themselves as shields, the ten kitsunes acted as meat shields. An enormous explosion erupted in front of the building that they were protecting causing the windows to shatter and shower glass on anyone unfortunate enough to be near them. Inside the building people stood like a group of deer caught in an industrial headlight, they were completely awed by the sacrifice that the supposed knights had performed.

They were further thrown into shock when the smoke cleared and it was revealed that the kitsunes had survived and were practically unharmed. Their cloaks hadn't even been vaporised however their forms did emit steam which indicated the intense heat produced by the straight thunder. The citizens of Karakuma simply could not believe their eyes, in fact each and every one of them was shocked into a state of inaction. The assassin kitsune began gathering the people inside the building and leading them to safety, their job was far from over as indicated by the many people still trying to flee the city. The golem once again charged a straight thunder, there were several beams charging and Dakini fearlessly met this challenge with more palm thrusts. She thrust her arm forward only to miss her mark as the golem leapt to the side in order to avoid the attack. The assassin kitsunes in charge of rescue work began to work overtime, grabbing and depositing anyone that had yet to evacuate to a safe part of the city. At these drop off points the knights eagerly awaited the rescued citizens, all throughout this process they were questioning the identity of the cloaked kitsunes but received no answer. No matter how much they questioned or threatened the kitsune they could not force an answer from any of them.

Dakini began to accelerate her strategy and promptly sprouted more arms, she now had a total of six arms to use palm thrusts. Both Dakini and the golem were now hovering in the air trading blows once again, with Dakini trying to supress the golem into submission with her Palm thrusts. She was like a sumo wrestler with her palm thrusts except she lacked the robust build of the Japanese wrestlers. Amidst the shower of strikes that each fighter produced Dakini managed to land a solid palm thrust followed by a kick which sent the golem plummeting to the ground. The golem crashed into a street that was full of citizens and knights that had yet to flee, luckily no one had been crushed by the falling golem. Dakini's relentless fervor compelled her to continue her assault and she plunged downward after the golem, as the dust cleared the golem was met with the business end of her spear. The golem roared in pain as the spear tip buried itself into its shoulder where it was lodged deeply, despite the golem's supposedly machine-like nature it could still feel pain. In retaliation the golem fired a quick straight thunder which dislodged the spear and launched Dakini a good distance away from it. Seeing this from afar Rosa rushed to the location of her downed friend and ordered the assassin kitsunes to keep the golem at bay.

"Dakini!". Concern was positively dripping from her voice and she rushed into the building that now sported a hole, the building used to be a restaurant.

Amid the ruined chairs and tables stood the furious flower knight, there simply was no stopping Dakini's lust for golem blood. Dakini made to move out of the ruined building but was stopped by Rosa, the tall kitsune wrapped Dakini in a hug from which the young fox girl began to squirm while wrapped in the kitsune's embrace. Rosa began to dig tendrils of biomass into Dakini's body in the least invasive way possible, she did this in order to manually heal her friend's body. Rosa took a sample of Dakini's cells and did her best to recreate them, she exercised extreme caution as the slightest mistake could result in a viral infection. After a minute Dakini had recovered somewhat but was still in almost no condition to respond and was still very much eager to rejoin the battle. Rosa watched her determined friend walk off towards the sounds of battle and followed after her, she returned to her previous perch on the roof of the department store. The assassin kitsunes had surrounded the golem and were knocking it back to the ground each time it attempted to escape. Mere seconds later Dakini had returned to the golem's immediate vicinity and for the umpteenth time that day rushed the golem.

The golem attempted to bring its staff down to smash the flower knight but was met with a swift change in movement, its staff was cut in half with a diagonal swing. The golem immediately reached for the knife that was strapped to its shoulder so that it could continue fighting but instead suffered the severing of its arm. Another howl of pain escaped the beak of the golem however it wasn't over yet for the struggling menace, with its remaining arm it pulled out a long saw-like weapon from behind its hip. The golem swung at the flower knight but Dakini simply blocked the attack with her wrist guard, this didn't come without a price and the weight of the strike snapped her wrist like a twig. Her hand was now on the verge of falling off but her regeneration wouldn't allow it and the dangling hand clung to its owner. The golem with it's severed arm moved to impale Dakini with its bone like cables and managed to disarm her, her sword dropping from her grasp. Suddenly several hand-like ribbons shot out from behind the golem's hips and began to restrain the flower knight, immediately after restraining Dakini the golem began charging a straight thunder. In its final moments deranged laughter rang out from the wounded golem however Dakini had one more trick up her sleeve. In an unseen force Dakini's sword became gripped by something and swiftly made its way down in an overhead swing.

The bird-like golem was bisected by the flower knight's blade and erupted in a sizable explosion which was promptly devoured by Dakini. The battle had finally come to an end and Rosa was proud of her friend for achieving victory, the feeling in her chest was akin to a mother feeling proud of her child's achievements. Now that the battle had ended Dakini was finally released from her berserk state where she went back to being a relatively normal child. Rosa leapt down from her perch and rushed to Dakini's side, the young flower knight was utterly exhausted and was embraced by the older kitsune before she could fall to her knees.

"You've done well Dakini and you've managed to keep the collateral to a minimum". Rosa could not be happier however she and her kitsune assassins were the ones responsible for helping Dakini avoid the collateral damage.

The exhausted flower knight said nothing and simply snuggled deeper into the evolved's embrace, the two stayed like that for a while before Rosa sensed a presence. Holding Dakini like she would with an infant Rosa stood up and glared at an empty space in front of her, the empty street had seemingly nothing to offer. The kitsune knew better than to accept that there was nothing and quickly sent a thick collection of tendrils through the ground where they erupted in black spikes which quickly found their mark. What appeared to be a golem made entirely of mirrors fell to the ground with a ruined second golem behind it, both had lost their lower halves. In the case of the second golem it immediately exploded and Rosa was unable to even drink in its appearance. The mirror golem however stayed in a half dead state which would change in a moment as Rosa slowly made her way to the downed golem. The golem looked on in a paling expression as the life slowly drained from its glass face, the inky liquid that served to form the shape of its face waning with each passing moment. Rosa looked down with contempt and crushed the mirror golem's head with her foot, the rest of the body was shattered by another ground spike. After defeating two golems in one day the two friends left Karakuma's streets to regroup with their canine friend.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: After story

Rosa walked down the relatively empty streets of Karakuma while carrying Dakini in her arms, she looked down at the young fox girl in her arms and saw her fast asleep. The assassin kitsunes had returned to her as biomass and rightfully this caused a bit of commotion among the knights of the city. They wondered where their extraordinary saviors had disappeared to, they neither had the time to praise nor question them which left many desiring an answer to their many questions. Others within the ranks of the city folk and knights merely attempted to brush it off as a trick of the eyes which was fool hardy. In the present Rosa was heading straight for one of the evacuation points outside of Karakuma since her viral sonar revealed that to be Eiden's current location. She could sense the eyes of several people that had not managed to make it out of the city in time however they were very few in numbers, most of them looked at her in sadness while some looked on with confusion. Rosa decided that she didn't want to linger in the gaze of the masses and quickly picked up her pace to a quick trot. Her speed was akin to a motorcycle however she didn't make it a bumpy ride so as to not wake up the young fox sleeping in her arms. In ten minutes the two friends had made it to Eiden's location and Rosa saw that the canine was pacing around anxiously in front of a mid sized tent. Upon approaching their friend his expression lit up with joy and he rushed over to the two familiar faces.

"How'd everything go?" Eiden could not wait to hear about the results of Dakini's work or Rosa's involvement in it, much like the people of Karakuma he wanted an answer.

"We managed to defeat the golems" She spoke in a hushed voice, partly because she didn't want to wake the sleeping child in her arms and because she'd rather not alert anyone else in the camp.

"That's amazing!" Immediately after saying that Rosa slapped her hands over Eiden's mouth which elicited a small pained grunt.

"Sorry about that but we can't have anyone else knowing…" Having said that she removed her hands from Eiden's slightly red mouth.

"But…why?" The question hung in the air like a cloud of annoying mosquitos which refused to leave, Rosa really didn't want to answer this question again.

"I'll explain once again when we regroup with Prakasha" Another non answer which frustrated Eiden to no end, the only thing leading him on was the promise of answers somewhere down this arduous line.

Wordlessly Eiden followed his evolved friend whom continued to carry the child that would represent this land's hope, Eiden had high hopes for the two and their combined power. He began thinking about the battle that had just taken place within Karakuma, if the two were so successful could they perhaps destroy all the golems? Several days before arriving in Karakuma Eiden had witnessed Rosa fighting the golems in Enoth and to say that he was impressed was an understatement of the century. Rosa's physical capabilities easily surpassed even Dakini's power and Dakini was already quite monstrous in terms of strength. What more was Rosa capable of?

The questions continued to swim within Eiden's mind but his train of thought continued on, he was barely following Rosa who shifted her eyes towards him every now and then to keep track of him. He had seen her transform her arms into razor sharp claws, Stone-like arms, and even a long blade which all held the same black and red colours. He saw how much destruction she was capable of with those transformed limbs but somehow, he had the sneaking suspicion that even after all that, it still wasn't the full extent of her power. A part of Eiden held a seed of excitement knowing that Rosa still had power that had yet to be explored, Dakini also aroused this excitement. Now his desire of seeing the sky golems burn for their crimes could become a very real reality which gave him no end of joy.

Before Eiden had realized it he and Rosa had walked a far distance, Karakuma's city hall was within sight. The building itself was large when compared to other buildings within the half-ruined city, its roof being propped up by thick steel rods. The two friends and one sleeping flower knight entered through the front entrance, they saw that the building was practically empty due to the evacuation. During their walk Rosa had sent out multiple pulses from her viral sonar and the pulses all came from this direction, she had wanted to make sure that this building would be where Prakasha was holed up. Heading straight forward, Rosa and Eiden came face to face with another set of double doors which was left slightly ajar. Rosa could sense multiple life forms within the approaching room which meant that Prakasha wasn't alone. Prakasha being in the company of other people actually gave Rosa a feeling of comfort since she knew there was a higher chance of her being safe. As she opened the double doors the two friends were met with the surprised face of Prakasha and two other people, a nine tailed kitsune and a red panda. A smile broke out onto the evolved being's face as she gazed upon Prakasha's pristine form, not a single scratch to be seen.

"I'm glad you're safe, Prakasha". The soft tone of the evolved kitsune's voice brought a smile to the fox marebito, her face held the distinct rose colour of a light blush. The nine tailed kitsune next to Prakasha noticed this reaction and wondered who this newcomer was to Prakasha. She also held a measure of surprise in seeing another multi tailed kitsune like herself, this caused her curiosity to explode exponentially.

"Did…did you defeat the golems?". Prakasha's question caused the nine tailed kitsune and red panda a great deal of confusion, how could anyone be capable of defeating the sky golems?

"We were successful and the city sustained minimal damage. I'm just glad we were able to pull this victory off without any casualties". The confusion between the nine tailed fox and the red panda grew evermore as the conversation continued without them.

"I'm sorry where are my manners, my name is Rosa!". The introduction was directed at the nine tailed kitsune and the red panda whom Rosa was unfamiliar with.

"I'm Kayoh and this is young man is mayor Hoff". Mayor Hoff gave off a welcoming smile despite the gaggle of strangers standing in front of him and the mayor of Pandemonium village. Kayoh barely took note of the fox girl that Rosa was cradling in her arms, this gave way to alarm as she noticed the child's state. The fox girl sported several scars spread evenly throughout her body and her clothes were almost entirely shredded save for her private areas.

Now her thoughts of the strange kitsune became dark as she took a quick glace at mayor Hoff's expression to gauge his reaction. For his part the red panda had a thin smile on his face but it was clear that he too had noticed the glaring issues that surrounded the newly introduced Rosa. For her part Rosa hastily created seven padded wooden chairs for the occupants currently in the room, this garnered startled cries from the only two people in the room that weren't at least somewhat familiar with her tricks.

Prakasha wasn't without her own reaction as sweat began to form on her brow and she grew a nervous expression. She too wanted answers from the person that had helped her make it all the way from the middle of the wilderness to Karakuma. Eiden merely sat down next to Rosa, he wore a slight frown since it irritated him that his kitsune companion didn't handle the situation with more care. All eyes were on Rosa as she prepared to make her move but what she did only caused further tension, she created a small white mattress and a small floral print blanket. The blanket itself drew more attention since it was filled with flowers that no one else besides Rosa had seen, many alien flowers.

"This child's name is Dakini, I just wanted to get that out of the way" Rosa said as her right hand hovered over Dakini's head, the kitsune had laid her body on the mattress with her head stick up past the blanket.

"Please, just tell us about the what happened here in Karakuma bit by bit" Mayor Hoff spoke up but it was clear he only wanted the transparent truth.

"Eiden and I brought Dakini here to stop the golems, she's what you call a thunder beast"

"That is what passes for a thunder beast nowadays?" The statement came from Kayoh who sported a raised brow, she questioned Dakini's completely normal appearance. From all the rumors she heard and the texts that she had read Kayoh had never heard of a thunder beast that had no usual physical traits. The thunder beasts and the marebito shared the same tendency to have physical traits not natural to their species. The difference between the group being that the thunder beasts wielded unnatural strength and abilities.

"You may not believe what I have to say but I'm sure the knights protecting this city can provide first hand accounts of the battle" Rosa knew that dozens of people, knights included, had witnessed their battle and it would be too much to cover up or ignore.

"Then I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, of course, when the knights return, I'll be sure to personally question them." Mayor Hoff sounded eager to obtain an answer despite his stern expression, perhaps he wanted to appear professional?

"Can we move onto the topic of what kind of creature you are, please?" Prakasha's request came out of nowhere however her endearingly meek tone persuaded Rosa to move on with the discussion. The strange kitsune had no problem with slowly answering each question that came her way and especially not if she was able to enjoy Prakasha's cute image.

Exhaling slowly, Rosa knew that a moment like this was inevitable. "I don't think any of you would believe me"

Rosa had a somewhat dour expression on her face, the gravity of telling someone that you were a shape shifting virus not lost on her. Prakasha held an anxious expression, she much like everyone else wanted a straight answer to the alarming things that they had just witnessed from Rosa.

"I can't say I have an answer for you all". Rosa had a crestfallen expression, she wanted to tell everyone the truth but for her own safety she couldn't. Her eyes half lidded and looking down in an illustration of sadness, Rosa would not give them an answer.

"What do you mean?". Mayor Hoff kept his stern expression however internally he knew that the multi tailed kitsune was dodging their questions.

"I can't say". Rosa held her ground, she wouldn't give them the truth as it would compromise her safety. In the past many had sought her for her abilities, they chased her relentlessly and it almost always ended in blood being spilt.

In a surprising move, Prakasha suddenly leaned forward and grasped Rosa's hands with her own claws. This surprised Rosa as indicated by her widened eyes, she didn't expect this due to her taller friend's shy demeanor.

"Please, we need an answer!". Prakasha shot a pleading looking from her eyes as she stared at Rosa in the eyes, her eyes shimmering and giving off a classic puppy eye look.

Rosa slowly pushed Prakasha's claws off her own hands, the action allowing a slight bit of trepidation to set into the young marebito's heart.

"I simply can't do that". Rosa answer and the resolute look in her eyes made Prakasha's heart sink a bit, she wanted learn more about an unknown creature.

No one in the room was surprised with the outcome from the strange kitsune, especially Eiden who knew that Rosa had a slight track record in withholding information. The rest of the morning was spent explaining the defeat of the sky golems to Prakasha, Mayor Hoff and Kayoh. Rosa spent some of this time watching after Dakini and making sure her injuries were recovering properly, a touch and a brief check from some tiny tendrils allowed her to check on Dakini.

After an hour, Rosa had done all she could to explain the situation to everyone else with as much detail as possible. When she had finished, she stood up and scooped the sleeping fox up in her arms.

"Now that I've explained everything, you should all understand today's events, it's time for me and Mr. Eiden to leave". As she stood up to leave, Kayoh moved to address Rosa, whatever it was Rosa had not the faintest clue.

"Thank you for helping my daughter arrive here safely". Kayoh's smile was exceedingly warm and disarming.

"Your welcome". Rosa had nothing more to say and walked away with Dakini in her arms, Eiden followed closely behind her.

* * *

Rosa left Karakuma's town hall with satisfaction, her secret was safe and so was the entire city. It would most likely be an unsung testament to her effort in protecting this strange new land she had come to call her new home.

The streets of Karakuma were still mostly empty and only several people were wandering the streets marveling at the lack of destruction, they wore gas masks. Some who laid eyes on her became enamored and began to stare at her unceasingly, Rosa ignored these individuals.

"Where are we heading?". Eiden had suddenly spoke up, not that Rosa minded at all.

"To a hotel since I have money to spend". After saying this Rosa motioned towards her stomach and drew a dollar sign in the air. Unfortunately, she realized too late that Eiden wouldn't recognize that particular symbol of currency as he made a confused expression on his face.

"I'll show you when we arrive at a hotel". Eiden was still confused but nodded his head slowly as he followed Rosa.

During their search for a hotel, Rosa decided to shift Dakini into a less suspicious looking position. Carrying the sleeping fox via piggyback, Dakini did not make and movement or noise.

After several hours of wandering the streets of Karakuma, the trio of friends came across a tall building with many windows. The building had a slightly ornate design and seemed to beckon to any travelers, Rosa entered with her two companions.

Upon entering the supposed hotel, Rosa saw that the lobby was mostly empty save for several staff members. The staff were surprised that any customer would step through their doors considering the recent golem attack.

"Welcome!". The clerk at the front desk was happy that they had customers none the less.

"Hi, I'd like a room for three". Rosa went straight to procuring a room, no time for unnecessary chatter.

"Right away!". The clerk responded as fast as she could and grabbed a single key hanging on the wall amongst a board full of other keys.

Rosa reached into her sun dress and took out a wad of cash, she handed the money to the clerk and took the key. Rosa and Eiden plus one sleeping fox headed for a pair of elevators, knowing that they had a roof over their heads gave comfort to Eiden. The mentally ill Artist would miss sleeping in the wilderness and under the vast blanket of stars but he wasn't averse to a comfy hotel room.

Rosa unlocked their hotel room using the key given to them by the hotel clerk. Inside their room contained two separate beds, a balcony and a single bathroom. Eiden walks into the bathroom and turns on the shower, intending to take a long-awaited bath due to having lived out in the wilderness for an extended period of time. Rosa walks over to one of the beds and places Dakini on the soft cotton mattress, she pulls the blanket over the sleeping thunder beast. Drawn to the fresh air, Rosa walks out onto the balcony and begins to let her mind wander. Where would their adventure take them next, she pondered.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The long trek

Rosa woke up to the rosy morning horizon with a stretch of her stiff arms, she had only slept four hours last night. As a blacklight being, she never needed to sleep a full nine hours since her biology allowed her much more energy and awareness. She looked to her left only to find Dakini's side of the bed lacking the young fox child, the blanket had been pushed aside.

Looking around the sun lit room, Rosa saw that Eiden was still asleep as indicated by his quiet snoring. Soon her eyes fall on Dakini who was standing outside on the room's balcony, her horn was extended once more which meant she was tracking the sky golems. Rosa walked towards her unmoving and rigid friend before giving her a gentle hug from behind and slowly the young fox's horn retracted back into her head.

Dakini's eyes came back into focus and she smiled while hugging the taller kitsune, Rosa took a moment to remember the direction of the horn before returning Dakini's gesture. The horn's direction had pointed west from their position, Rosa knew that direction to be a path that lead past Enoth. Perhaps the golems had once again set their sights on the port town of Enoth or maybe she would be heading farther out.

"It's time for a bath". Rosa said with a sing song but quiet tone.

Dakini smiled and let Rosa lead her into the hotel room's bathroom, the evolved kitsune gave the young fox a towel and some soap before heading out of the bathroom. Rosa sat silently in the hotel room with the background noise of running water, soon her eyes fell on the room's television set. She grabbed the remote sitting next to the tv and turned to the news channel knowing what she'd find. News reporters on each channel were discussing her and her biomass made creations, there was much skepticism just as there was lots of praise.

In half an hour Dakini had finished her bath and had come out of the bathroom however this presented a major problem. The thunder beast's clothes had been destroyed in the previous battle which left her naked, the tattered scraps of her dress and underwear sitting on the bathroom floor. Dakini stared at Rosa as if nothing was wrong when clearly the white kitsune felt very uncomfortable, she quickly created a simple pink dress and matching underwear from her own biomass.

"Dakini, you absolutely cannot do that!". Rosa admonished her young companion who apparently didn't know any better

In order to further hammer her point home, she used her biomass to create a picture of her naked, the illustration held a large red X over it. Dakini seemed to get her point as she nodded her head and donned the clothing that Rosa had created, the dress smelled of fresh flowers. It was still early in the morning and so Eiden continued to sleep. The evolved kitsune decided she would head outside to see if any cafes were open at the current hour, she could bring back breakfast for Eiden later.

"Dakini, please stay here, I'm going to get us something to eat". For a moment the thunder beast debated with herself whether or not to go with her friend but finally complied with a nod. She didn't want to cause any trouble for the older kitsune.

Rosa began strolling through the relatively empty streets of Karakuma, most people who were out and about had gas masks although not all wore gas masks. The evolved kitsune surmised that there weren't enough of the masks to go around, a precious form of protection in sadly short supply. Rosa had long since noticed the toxic effects of the straight thunders, both in the recent battle and in the skirmish in Enoth.

There was something intriguing about the deadly lasers that the viral kitsune wanted to study and analyze however for that to happen she would have to consume a golem. Turning her thoughts elsewhere she focused on finding a café that was open at the current hour. While walking through the mostly empty streets, Rosa could feel the eyes of other people staring at her.

Some stared at her with lust and other people stared at her with open curiosity, they had probably never seen a marebito. Rosa ignored the former and kept on her way, clearly the work she had put into creating her current form was backfiring against her. Her momentary distraction had seen her standing in front of a café, the sign above the entrance read café rouge.

The kitsune saw the open sign and walked in, only a couple tables were occupied and again the occupants were wearing gas masks. Rosa strode up to the nearest waiter, a panda, and asked them for a menu. Soon she was looking through the breakfast menu, her eyes settled on the classic meal of bacon and eggs. She quietly asked the waiter if they did take out before receiving an affirmative, her order was ready in ten minutes and she paid the bill.

Returning to hotel, the white kitsune marched up to her hotel room and placed her food down on a small table. Upon walking into the room, she was greeted with a tight hug from her thunder beast companion, Rosa gently reciprocated the affection. The two began eating their breakfast together and enjoying each other's company, as they were close to finishing their meals a noise grabbed their attention. Eiden began to stir from his slumber and sat up in his bed, his nose twitched at the scent of fresh food that was not of his making.

"Uhm, that smells great". Eiden couldn't help but lick his lips in the process of saying that.

"You're welcome to join us; there's another take out box for you". Rosa smiled as she said this and got a smile from the canine in return.

Breakfast ended in relative silence as each member of the group finished their own meals, the café had included several cans of orange juice which were quickly consumed. Eiden had avoided talking with Rosa during breakfast since he wanted to talk about a very pressing matter afterwards.

"Rosa, we need to talk". The white kitsune arched an eyebrow and wondered what exactly the depressed artist wanted.

"You can't keep withholding information on what you are!" Rosa's eyebrow stayed arched and she held a deadpan expression.

"I can't?" There was silence before Eiden decided to speak up.

"Knowing what you are will provide a sense of security, how do I know you're not just some kind of supernatural monster?" Rosa sighed in exasperation; she knew that her habit of keeping information on herself a secret would eventually reach this point.

Eiden was about to speak again however the evolved kitsune cut him off by pinning his arms against the wall, she was very up close and personal. Eiden blushed intensely as he stared directly into Rosa's fierce eyes.

"I can tell you everything however that would mean that the cost of you telling someone else would be an immediate and very painful death". Eiden gulped and could tell by the unfaltering look in the kitsune's eyes that she meant every bit of what she said.

"I'd rather you don't tell me then…" Eiden wilted under Rosa's threat as she moved away from him, leaving him unpinned.

"We need to move out, Dakini has pinpointed the direction that we need to head towards" Eiden nodded with a wary look on his face after coming face to face with death.

* * *

The group of three now headed to Karakuma's city limits, something had been bothering Rosa since their departure from the hotel. Out of the corner of her eyes she spotted a large person following them but she decided not to voice her concerns since she knew she could handle whatever was stalking them. They were heading west which would be leading them back to Enoth, Rosa did not question this much at all. They had reached the city's west gate and the white kitsune was ready to call their stalker out.

"You can come out now, I know you're following us!" Eiden and Dakini turned to the direction that Rosa was looking in.

Out of an alleyway came two familiar fox marebitos, Rosa relaxed when she realized who was following them. Kayoh and Prakasha were the ones stalking them but for what reason she could not fathom. Prakasha held a nervous smile as she approached the evolved kitsune, her line of sight sloped down at Rosa's feet.

"It's good to see you Rosa" The evolved kitsune returned her friend's smile relaxed her muscles.

"Why'd you stalk us? You could just talk to us like normal people". Rosa was a little confused but didn't let that distract her.

"I want you to take me with you!" The white kitsune's eyes widened slightly at the marebito's sudden blurted statement.

"She really believes that she can learn much by traveling with you" Kayoh didn't quite trust the evolved kitsune yet but knew somewhat of how powerful she was.

"Prakasha, you have to realize how dangerous our journey is, I won't always be able to protect you" The tall fox marebito knew what traveling with the strange kitsune and her group would entail.

Nevertheless, she insisted that she could make it while traveling with them and could even be of use. She could analyze situations and come up with plans for Rosa and her companions, her intelligence had many applications beyond being a tactician. She could gather information or deduce their enemy's next move, Prakasha was trying quite hard to be apart of the white kitsune's group.

"You can come along with us but I make no promises" Prakasha was overjoyed, with this she could take a more active role in eliminating the golem threat.

"Before that happens, you should show me how capable you are" Rosa was not at all surprised by Kayoh's demand, nothing stood between a mother and her child.

"What do you suggest…" Before Rosa could finish her sentence Kayoh was upon her, she brought her arms up to protect herself from the nine tailed fox's flying kick.

"I see" Rosa said nothing else as she prepared to fight however, she took no stance.

"You look awfully wide open to me" The nine tailed kitsune was met with no response, she began her next attack.

Rushing forward with speed unlike what her body would suggest, Kayoh aimed to land a punch squarely in the strange kitsune's stomach. Unfortunately, her fist met empty air as Rosa easily side stepped her attack and countered with a punch of her own. Kayoh was sent flying several meters though she hadn't been knocked off her feet, the evolved kitsune's punch felt less severe than she had anticipated.

Clearly Rosa had intended to restrain herself and Kayoh knew why however she decided not to voice her dissatisfaction at not getting to see the white kitsune's true strength. Rosa saw no point in drawing the fight out with pointless attacks and decided she'd end this struggle as quickly as she could. She rushed the nine tailed fox with all her might, achieving speeds that no mortal being could ever hope to come close to.

Kayoh didn't even get half way through widening her eyes before she was grabbed and thrown to the ground, the evolved kitsune was pinning her down. Rosa's muscles were primed and ready should the fox marebito try anything, Prakasha was in awe at her friend's sheer physical prowess.

"I believe that should be enough" Rosa got off of Kayoh and proceeded to dust herself off using her tails, the six appendages bended to their owner's will.

Kayoh got off the ground a moment later and dusted herself off as well, her heart still beating vigorously due to the viral kitsune's sudden attack. She was thoroughly impressed by the strength that Rosa possessed and no longer had any doubts about her capabilities in protecting Prakasha.

"You've proven yourself more than capable however if she's harmed while under your care, I will make your life a living hell" Rosa stood unfaltering in the face of the nine tailed kitsune's threat, she knew no one could harm her.

"We'll head out after you say your goodbyes" The statement was directed at Prakasha who nodded her head.

The goodbye between daughter and mother took longer than Rosa had liked but she knew moments like this could not be rushed. Despite that fact, she couldn't hold back her irritation since she was eager to locate their golem enemies and consume one. Nothing would stand in her way of obtaining and cultivating the strength that she desired on an instinctual level.

Prakasha joined her three other companions and waved to her mother one last time before they all departed. Soon the quartet arrived at a nearby bus hut which would take them back to Enoth, Rosa's anticipation grew as she imagined sinking her claws into a hapless golem. Dakini noticed the older kitsune's excitement brewing on her face and began smiling along with her friend, she hugged Rosa while looking up at her.

The evolved kitsune reciprocated the warm and affectionate gesture with a hug of her own, a child deserved all the affection they could get. The bus ride itself was mostly uneventful, soon the young thunder beast fell asleep in Rosa's arms. Eiden began to pass the time by sketching both his kitsune companion and Dakini, his sketch book quickly filled up with images of the kitsune and small fox.

Prakasha bypassed the boredom by ordering food and eating her fill, a myriad of plates began stacking up at her table. Since the trip between certain locations could take a day or two, each bus had a restaurant and was a double decker bus. The large fox marebito always loved this aspect of traveling by bus since it meant that she didn't have to bring her own food. The hours ticked by as each person went about the day in their own method, soon Dakini awoke from her nap.

Rosa and Dakini sat at a table adjacent to Prakasha and the kitsune produced a deck of cards from her biomass. She began teaching the thunder beast how to play a classic game that she enjoyed in her past, Solitaire. The young fox stood no chance at defeating her in a game of Solitaire however Rosa never meant for the game to be competitive.

By the time Prakasha had finished eating, Eiden had completed his sketches and looked over at the sight of the evolved kitsune playing with Dakini. A smile grew on his face at the playful camaraderie that the two shared, it always distracted him from the threat that the golems posed. The rest of the bus ride passed in relative silence since nothing of note happened, soon the three companions plus one marebito would arrive at Enoth.

* * *

Rosa, Eiden, Dakini and Prakasha stepped off the bus that they had been riding and were welcomed with the sight of the Enoth. Its vibrant white and yellow architecture would always appear welcoming to the tourists that arrived there. Once in the town proper, the four wasted no time in heading to a secluded area, a lonely stretch of the port would suffice. The young thunder beast's horn emerged once gain where it pointed in a direction that lay beyond the horizon over the sea.

Rosa knew exactly where they were headed, it would be back to the one place that she had left behind. She dreaded going back there since it would only bring back nasty memories that she wished would vanish into oblivion. She didn't want to voice her fear and did everything she could to hide that from her friends, so far it was working.

"Hold on everyone, this'll only take a moment" Everyone barring Rosa tilted their head in confusion but soon it became apparent what the kitsune was doing.

Biomass began leaking from her body in greater than usual numbers which left her companions astounded. Slowly but surely the biomass took the shape of a sizable cruiser, it held no armaments but had everything they'd need to travel the seas. Prakasha had turned her back on the spectacle to make sure no one was watching them.

"You can wait on our cruiser if you'd like however I need to gather supplies, I'll be back within 4 hours" Rosa knew they'd at least need some food even if the ship she produced could move fairly quickly.

"What if someone sees the cruiser" The concern came from both Eiden and Prakasha who didn't want to draw any unwanted attention.

"That won't be a problem, Prakasha I left instructions on how to get this ship moving and steer it, just head to the bridge" Prakasha nodded nervously as it would be her first time steering a ship of any kind, her doubt hung heavy in her mind.

Rosa began dividing like she had done during the battle of Karakuma, shortly afterwards a group of twenty kitsune assassins stood before her. She ordered them to gather any edible wildlife and flora they could find as well as creatures with significant biomass. She had to replenish her own biomass somehow, the other members of her group never got tired of witnessing her powers.

As Rosa and her assassins set out to complete their work, Prakasha and Eiden along with Dakini boarded the jet-black cruiser through a staircase that had grown out of the ship's side. It seemed that the kitsune's creation was reacting to them with little to no stimuli, all things considered it was very odd. Prakasha immediately began looking for a way to the cruiser's bridge, she eventually noticed a map of the vessel hanging on the wall.

The fox marebito grabbed the map and began leading her two other friends to the ship's bridge, it only took a minute. The control mechanisms at the bridge were quite simple, much more than on any other ship. Prakasha pressed a single button and began the start up sequence for the cruiser, her confidence began to rise.

While this took place, Eiden and Dakini decided they'd explore the rest of the ship in order to get a grasp on their temporary home. The crew quarters only held enough rooms for each member of their group, a fairly frugal appearance. Suddenly the ship began moving which surprised the canine and thunder beast though they quickly knew that it was due to Prakasha.

After taking a look at the rest of the ship Eiden relegated himself to relaxing on the cruiser's deck while Dakini headed back to the bridge. She took a peek at the fox marebito that was steering their ship, the young fox wanted to familiarize herself with her new friend's appearance.

Prakasha was tall, she easily surpassed even Rosa in height with her long and curvy form. Two horns curved along the side of her head and a third horn poked out from the back of her head, Dakini recognized this as the features of a marebito. Her white hair with black highlights reached half way down her slender neck.

Her arms ended in thick black gleaming claws with two smaller claws sticking out of the backside of what served as her hands. Her chest was bountiful much like her mother, a pair of breasts that would be the envy of any man. All of this lead downward to a curvy hip and a long pair of legs which ended in hooves.

After much observing, the marebito noticed Dakini and called her to her side, the two foxes enjoyed each other's company. The cruiser moved to a coastline further away from Enoth which was protected from view thanks to a multitude of trees. The only thing left to do was wait for Rosa to return with her bounty of supplies.

Four hours had passed by quickly and out of the tree line came Rosa and her kitsune assassins, each of them carried animal products or some form of plant. Several of the assassins also came back with large jugs of water that when inspected were free of harmful substances. The evolved kitsune and her cohort quickly boarded the ship and stored their supplies within the cargo hold.

While packing the supplies away Eiden approached Rosa, he intended to ask something that had just become a nagging question.

"Rosa, how did you find us? We moved out and into a nearby wooded coastline" Eiden's question was met with a sly smile.

"That's easy, my viral sonar almost never fails me, it allows me to track down living organisms" Her explanation left Eiden agape, he had never heard of such a thing being possible even with some of the more peculiar great beetles.

Now that the supplies had been carefully stored away Rosa had her assassins return to her, the biomass they collected was more than enough. The white kitsune headed towards the cruiser's bridge, she wanted to check up on her marebito friend. Prakasha on the other hand had managed to dock the ship but got distracted by Dakini soon after, they were playing a game of tag. Upon seeing the sight Rosa coughed in order to get the attention of her two friends, Prakasha smiled sheepishly while the young fox next to her simply smiled.

"We should get back to business" This was stated as fact and not something to be questioned, it was important that they tracked down the golems in order to eliminate them.

That being said, Dakini once again allowed her horn to protrude from her forehead where it pointed to a slight northwest direction. Rosa had used some of her biomass to create a compass which they would need in the coming days. Now that their course had been set, Prakasha began steering the ship forward in the direction that Dakini's horn had pointed out, their intrepid adventure continued.


End file.
